By Anthony Selvanathan
Special to the Herald
Across Hawaii, students are returning to classrooms with new teachers, fresh notebooks and high hopes for the year ahead. Parents are settling back into familiar routines, teachers are preparing lesson plans and campuses are once again filled with anticipation.
The beginning of a new school year reminds us of a simple truth: Learning is lifelong.
As Catholics, that truth extends far beyond the classroom. We never graduate from the Gospel.
Too often, we think of our faith the way we think of school. We are baptized, receive first holy Communion, are confirmed, perhaps marry in the church, and quietly assume our formation is complete. Yet the sacraments are not a graduation ceremony. They are milestones along a lifelong journey of discipleship.
The church has always understood that Christian formation is lifelong. Every stage of life presents new opportunities to encounter Christ more deeply. Children discover the stories of salvation. Young adults begin asking difficult questions about vocation and purpose. Married couples learn the daily vocation of self-giving love. Parents become the first teachers of the faith for their children. Older adults continue to witness through wisdom, perseverance and prayer.
No matter our age or vocation, Christ never stops teaching us.
Even the greatest saints never considered themselves to have “arrived.” They remained lifelong students of the Master, continually allowing the Gospel to shape their hearts and transform their lives.
The same is true for priests, religious, theologians and bishops. Receiving a vocation or a degree does not mark the end of formation. Rather, it is an invitation to continue growing in holiness and in our knowledge of God.
That growth happens in countless ways: through Scripture, the celebration of the Eucharist, the sacrament of reconciliation, personal prayer, spiritual reading, works of charity and the life of the Christian community. Every Sunday, every confession, every act of service and every moment spent listening to God’s voice forms us into more faithful disciples.
The Christian life is not about completing a curriculum but continually becoming more like Christ.
The more deeply we know him, the more faithfully we follow him. The more faithfully we follow him, the more authentically we become his witnesses.
Bishop Larry Silva’s episcopal motto, “Witness to Jesus,” reminded us that every Christian is called to proclaim the Gospel through both word and example. Throughout his episcopacy, he encouraged us to become faithful witnesses to Christ in our homes, workplaces, parishes and communities.
Now, as Bishop Michael T.T. Castori, SJ, begins his ministry among us, his episcopal motto, “E hiki mai kou aupuni” — “Thy kingdom come” — invites us to continue that same mission. Rooted in the prayer Jesus himself taught his disciples, it reminds us that God’s kingdom becomes visible whenever the Gospel is proclaimed, the poor are served, the lonely are comforted, sins are forgiven and lives are transformed by Christ.
By remaining lifelong learners of the faith, we become ever more faithful witnesses to Jesus. And faithful witnesses help make God’s kingdom present in our world.
As we prepare to celebrate the bicentennial of the Catholic faith in Hawaii, may we never graduate from the Gospel. Instead, may we continue growing as disciples of Jesus Christ, allowing him to teach us anew each day.
And together, may we make Bishop Castori’s prayer our own:
“E hiki mai kou aupuni” — “Thy kingdom come,” on earth as it is in heaven.