1. Your motto; Sapere Aude
"Sapere Aude", "Dare to be wise", such is the motto your class chose for its senior year. And to walk along this path, you placed yourselves under the special patronage of Saint Thomas Aquinas, the Common Doctor of the Church, the most perfect teacher and model of wisdom that we can find among men. "Dare to be wise": these words are a perfect echo of what our Constitutions state about the goal of our schools: "True culture, that which the sisters must promote, is not the cluttering of the mind with extensive knowledge, nor a pleasure as refined as it is sterile, nor a shiny varnish: it is wisdom. It is a vital and profound adaptation of the mind to the disinterested values of truth, beauty, morality; and because it gives durable doctrinal criteria, it allows us to make an objective and liberating judgment on the fundamental realities of life; it puts light and order in our thoughts. And this culture that the sisters will give to their students will NOT cut them off from their times, nor from their environment, but it will give them the arms necessary both to evade the traps of the world and to cooperate, as women, in their providential place, towards the establishment of a Christian temporal order." You did not know this text of our constitutions; yet, your motto shows that you did grasp what we intend to give you through our different classes and curricula: that is true culture, which is wisdom.

2. Now, what is wisdom, in a general sense?

Wisdom is "sapientia" in Latin: it comes from the word "sapere", which means "to taste, to appreciate". Wisdom is, therefore, the habit of tasting, of appreciating, of judging all things in relation to first causes, in relation to the highest principles, and especially to the First Cause, par excellence, God. For the wise man, the principal knowledge, that which has a greater importance than all others and to which all others must converge, is that of God, First Source and Last End. Moreover, wisdom is not only a speculative virtue, a virtue which perfects the intellect, but is a virtue at the same time both speculative and practical. Seated in the intelligence, it exercises an influence on the will and the whole moral life. "The wise man will easily become a saint." (Rev. Father. le Rohellec OP) This light of wisdom will certainly first and foremost have us taste, appreciate, - understand the price of - our dignity as Christians, as Catholics, and it will compel us to live up to the heights of our baptism, of our consecration to God through baptism. For the dignity of our Christian condition is the measure of our responsibilities in life. Dear graduates, your motto says not only: be wise, but dare to be wise. In other words, it means that it is not enough to see, to understand, to grasp your dignity as baptized souls, but you must dare to live up to this appreciation. Dear girls, it is above all on this day when you leave the school and begin to walk alone, that you have to take this motto to heart and make it your motto in Life. "Dare to be wise", which means first and in a general way: dare to refuse the widely spread spiritual anemia which unfortunately affects and afflicts so many Catholics who, in their intelligence, soul and heart are lacking in vitality with respect to their Faith. Indeed, you will often meet the objection: 'But times have changed'; yet, with God's grace, you will be able to oppose this watered-down Catholicism, according to the very words of Father de Chivre: "But the role of the Faith is to change the times, whatever they may be. For such is the Honor of the Church: the will to choose. We have to recuperate the rights of the Faith if we are to save civilization."

3. What is wisdom for women?

Now, dear girls, we must take a further step. You cannot be content with a general concept of wisdom; you must be concerned with what precisely it is for a woman to be wise. To achieve this purpose "you must remember that Grace is grafted onto nature. The supernatural is traced from Creation. Sanctity is not something exotic, but native. You must remember that the triumph of grace supposes the balance of nature. Far from taking you off your natural axis, sanctity sets you back on it. And if sanctity is first fidelity to a state, to a duty of state, as the catechism says, it demands first of all, that the respect of the will of the Creator be written in the heart of nature. Since this sanctity does not consist in making oneself different from how God has made us, but in realizing fully, purely, what God wants us to be, we cannot but entreat you to be, to remain, courageously, purely, Christianly women, if you have the ambition of becoming saints." (R.F. Doncoeur)

Saint Thomas Aquinas, the special patron of your class, tells you that: "Woman was made as a helper to man; not, indeed, as a helpmate in other works, as some say, since man can be more efficiently helped by another man in other works, but as a helper in the work of generation." And a bit further he writes, "Man and woman are united, not only for generation, but also for the purpose of domestic life, for the life of the home, in which each has his or her particular duty, and in which the man is the head of the woman."

The mission of the woman, therefore, flows from this law of her nature. This is why R.F. Calmel wrote these beautiful lines, which I encourage you to meditate on over and over again.

The mission of woman is to bear life and to transmit it in dependence upon man, for she is inseparably spouse and mother.

Her mission is thus first in the home, first domestic, not first political.

This mission, not being public, is silent and hidden. The mission of woman is made of silence; talkativeness shows ignorance of the mystery of her mission - the mystery of that life which she bears and gives.

The mission of woman is made of modesty. The mystery of life touches so closely the mystery of heaven and earth, sin and purifying grace are so closely connected to it, that the woman must be essentially reserved. She cannot profane, she cannot treat herself arid those who are attached to her as if it were all public business or a casual social relationship. She is too closely connected with love, with the gift of her person, and consequently with what is intimate, private, reserved, that she cannot but be essentially discreet, modest, reserved.

"Her mission is made of purity: love and the mystery of Life, when they are not chaste, but given over to the anarchy of the senses or walled in by pride, are untrue to love and life.

"The mission of woman is made of humility and attention. Life and love are such a mystery of the divine gift, they are so threatened by traps above and below, that without a great deal of humility before God and before the humblest tasks, they disintegrate and die."

The Reverend Father de Chivre also writes beautifully: Man and woman are two mirrors: one, man, reflects the power of God, while the other, woman, over this power, mirrors the spirit of God. There, is the vocation of the true woman: to seek, in the superior reality that we do not see, a seeking which is a state of the soul, of the heart, of the sentiments, of supernatural possibilities.

The modem world lacks feminine spirit, even in a physical way. It is absent from the expression, the words, the looks. Too many women no longer radiate the brilliance of spirit emanating the charm of a heart close to God. As long as women fly to the exterior, renouncing their nature as women, they will not be women. And renouncing their nature as women is grave, because not only do they miss their mission, but they also throw disorder into the mission of men.

Women, do you wish to accompany man? Accompany him according to your nature: remain at home. And man perceives in the night alight which is warm. After his burdensome work in which solitude has nipped at his heart, he sees that light '`Ah! She is there!' She is there, the fresh spring, with all the restfulness of the spring, the source, with all the joy of bringing what a source does without cease: freshness. And man enters the house and finds company. As the Bible says, "Bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh", there is company of the spirit, of the mind. At that moment, the woman is queen, for the spirit makes her reign, the education of the children makes her reign. And at that time man rediscovers in the home everything he was missing outside; he feels like a man, and she is proud to be a woman."

"At a congress of independent women," writes Cardinal Mindzenty, "the complaint was expressed that the history of the world had been written one-sidedly. This may be true. On the other hand, we must not forget how intimately and inseparably woman's life is interwoven with that of the husband, the children, the nation; and all culture. Her glory does not consist in being a flaming torch or genius, but in bringing geniuses into the world. Those who hold the scepter of the world in their hands are those who give life to children.

True, mother works in the home, but her quiet labor radiates upon the entire nation. She passes on the entire treasure of culture from generation to generation. She builds up the future, and not merely the future of this earth; nay, her task reaches out into eternity, to the very heart of God.

Without her there can be no family, no home. Without her, the strongest sources of goodness, love, and mercy vanish. She is the sturdy staff upon which the weary pilgrim supports himself as he plods the dusty road of life. She is the unknown soldier of common every day life. The hand that rocks the cradle holds the helm of the world. Everything that lives and dies on earth has its origin in mother.

"Man's place varies on the stage of history. Now he is the hero, in the spotlight; then he disappears in darkness. Woman works in secret, she is an image of the eternal and everlasting law, always creating new life. She points out to man the way, she plants the seed in the virgin soil of the soul. The face of coming generations is fashioned after the image of woman... The life of woman is more quiet and retiring than that of man. But she can change the fire of the home hearth to the fire on the sacred altar, and daily sacrifice herself thereon in a silent consuming fire."

A woman worthy of the name should deserve this compliment expressed about his mother by the Reverend Father Doncoeur: "My mother spoke little, and about very simple things! But in the midst of action, her glance, her silence, her heart drew me back to the purest center, to the divine center of my life. She was like the light of God shining on me."

Such is the sublime mission of woman, and you would not be wise if you were to forget that wisdom for you is intrinsically dependent upon a profound understanding of your femininity and the very specific mission attached to it. Now some of you will be called to an even higher state. More sublime indeed than the married state is the religious state in which God consecrates some souls to His exclusive love and service. "What then will become of this sublime vocation of being a wife and mother?" you may think. "Is it possible that God may require this sacrifice?" Yes indeed, but it is certainly NOT to the detriment of your vocation as spouse and mother; on the contrary, it elevates this vocation to the divine level: a religious is a bride of Christ truly handed over to Him as to a Spouse, and this union is most fruitful, for the religious renounces the married Life and the possibility of having her own children in order to devote her entire life, her whole heart, her whole soul, her whole strength to the salvation of souls. Her vocation is to be a mother in the true sense of the word and to the greatest extent possible for a creature. In espousing Christ she becomes mother of souls. Her spiritual motherhood takes on the dimension of the depths of the Sacred Heart who gave up His own life for the redemption of the world. By becoming one with Him, she brings forth thousands of souls to divine life, some souls she may know, most of them she will not know here below.

How well you can now see that, whatever your vocation may be, this your feminine nature compels you to prepare for it by cultivating the same virtues, all the virtues which make up the heart of a true spouse and a good mother: compassion for souls, self-sacrificing love, silence, self-effacement, discretion, dedication, and above all a strong faith and radiant purity; all these virtues will radiate interiority and modesty in so beautiful a way that you, in turn, will be able to bring the hearts of those entrusted to your care to the divine center of their Life, to God Himself.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, for a woman to be wise is to understand that she has a providential mission based upon her feminine nature. If Wisdom consists in judging everything under the light of highest causes, of God Himself, where are we to find out about God's intentions in creating man and woman if not in their very nature, in the laws of nature and grace implanted in them by the Creator, indeed jeopardized by sin, but restored in Christ in a marvelous way?

Such is the wisdom of the Church, which itself is a pure reflection of the Word Incarnate, who, in the bosom of the Holy Trinity, is Eternal Wisdom. We do not invent anything - we only strive to hand over to you these treasures of wisdom, of the Eternal wisdom, which cannot change. This is why Wisdom is inseparable from Tradition. God does not change. His plans are eternal. He hands them down to us through His Church. It is wisdom to conform to them. St. Thomas, R.F Calmel, R. R. de Chivre or Cardinal Midzenty, as you can see: they all teach the same doctrine, because these principles are unchangeable. The only goal we pursue in teaching, through our curricula, classes, all our demands, is to lead you to this wisdom, this specifically feminine wisdom so as to allow you to become saints: for the more saintly a woman is, the more a woman she is.

Dare to be wise, dear graduates. Dare to contemplate these sublime truths of life. And if one day Our Lord tells you: "Follow Me. Deny thyself, take up thy cross, sell all thou hast, and follow Me," then dare to follow Him, for the benefice of a very high motherhood, remembering that to be wise requires a great amount of supernatural strength, but, also, that God Himself is our strength. Here are the heights to which your motto directs your gaze and your hearts. On this path keep walking under the guidance of Saint Dominic whose wisdom has been enlightening the world for centuries, whose sons and daughters have been your masters throughout your years of study, and who instituted his order at the request of Our Lady herself under whose special patronage he placed it. She alone can teach you how to be true ladies. We call her "Our Lady"; and she is the perfect lady, because she is the Seat of Wisdom. She fulfills with absolute perfection the mission that God intended for woman from all eternity. She is "the woman" par excellence. May She continue to protect you every day in your life. May She remain forever your model. May She lead you to an even deeper understanding of the sacred mission attached to womanhood. This, indeed, is what you want to appreciate, to taste, if you truly "dare to be wise.

I leave you with a final thought from Father Doncoeur: "To remake Christianity, the great undertakings that God entrusts to men are necessary. But at the source of their apostate, their faith and their courage, remember that silent sanctity made of self-denial and sacrifice is offered to you women by God, as it was to Mary. "When God wills Redemption, He knows first to put into the heart of the woman the courage for all the assents, all the fiats which He needs to extend His Kingship over the world."