We sat beneath large trees on the lawn at Ball State University and watched our younger son graduate.  That day marked the end of years of papers, tests, projects, late nights and long drives home.  In fact, for the preceding twelve years, one or another of our three oldest children had been in college.  So this day meant not only a day of great pride in our son, but also a day of unbounded relief for us as well.

We recalled this son’s arrival twenty-three years earlier.  At his Baptism, his older brother’s first grade class had danced in a circle around him.  His four year old sister stood on tiptoe to say, “Thank you Jesus,” into the microphone – words we echoed that graduation morning.  Since his first graduation into God’s family, there have been many other rites of passage as well:  First Communion, Confirmation, driver’s license, and high school graduation.  As his parents, we fumbled along, sharing his adventures with games, lessons and friends.  Above all, we have shared the joy of his love of music.  As he packed his tools for survival in the world, we reminded him that whatever questions life asks of him, love is always the final answer. 

A few years ago, a story circulated in our diocese about an elderly monk who became ill at a nearby abbey and slipped into a coma.  For a brief time, there was no visible sign of life.  Then, the monk revived and began speaking about a near-death experience where he felt himself moving through a tunnel toward a brilliant light.  At the end of the tunnel, he heard a voice from the light ask him one simple question four words long:  “How did you love?”  Can an entire lifetime be summed up by these four short words?  First Corinthians 13:13 states clearly that only three things survive: faith, hope and love, and the greatest of these is love.  As Christians, when we pass through our final graduation, the answer to the question “How did you love” may well be the only one that matters.  Not only have we been given the question for our final exam; we also have been given a lifetime to practice the answer.