July 2006 - St. Michael's Abbey

Graduation 2006
Congratulations
As students arrive week after week at St. Michael’s
Prep, the high metal cross looms over everything
they are going to be and do, marking the one place
in their lives that perhaps has affected them more
than any other–the abbey church. Every morning for
four years, St. Michael’s students begin their day by
attending the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass; before lunch they pause briefly there to pray
the Angelus; when sun sets they bless their night by adoring our Lord in the Blessed
Sacrament and availing themselves of Confession. But now, after all such good practices
provided by our holy faith, their graduation into the world at large is marked by
a ceremony within the same sacred walls where their stability was most nurtured,
mercy so frequently received, and their characters enriched and deepened.
Ranging in ethnic backgrounds from Scottish to Filipino, Romanian to Taiwanese,
and various sorts of European descent, these ten young men, the graduating class
of 2006, have this one common denominator–their Catholic faith; one of them is
a convert. Personalities collide over four years; friendships are formed, broken,
and re-forged; but all take pride in "one faith, one Lord, one baptism" (Eph. 4:5).
Their academic accomplishments have not been overshadowed by their athletic prowess,
both of which have been considerable, and the universities to which they applied have
not been slow in acknowledging this. Universities of California at Irvine, Berkley, San
Diego and Los Angeles, Cal Poly Pomona and San Luis Obispo, Auburn, St. Mary’s at
Moraga, USC, Virginia Military Institute, Thomas Aquinas College, Christendom College,
Ave Maria College, Notre Dame University and the United States Naval Academy–these
are just some of the higher institutes that have indicated they will be enriched by having
a St. Michael’s graduate attend their schools.
And so the commencement exercises on a warm June evening bring to fruition a project
much broader than mere book learning, much deeper than character building. Ending
their sojourn at St. Michael’s in the church which has nurtured them so, with parental
support surrounding them and the presence of friends congratulating them, these men
now venture out to share the Gospel of Christ with everyone they meet for the rest of
their lives.
R. Belcher
R. Belcher
Jeremy Anoc ‘06
A great number of unexpected things will happen to the average student attending St. Michael’s
Prep. One of the most unexpected things to happen to me was becoming a Godparent. Needless
to say, when my good friend and fellow Senior Richard Chen asked me to be his baptismal
sponsor, I was speechless. Interestingly, this came as even more of a surprise to me than finding
out that he wanted to become a Roman Catholic–a testament to the commitment to proclaiming
the truth which St. Michael’s has, and more importantly, to the power of Divine Providence.
The gravity of what was going to take place did not strike me until the rehearsal for the combined ceremony of Baptism and
Confirmation. Having been baptized as an infant, I then was unable to see the beauty of choosing to receive the immense graces of
Baptism after realizing that one had been experiencing a spiritual drought beforehand. I now see a bit more clearly what a privilege
it is to have the gift of the Sacraments as a Catholic. Although I was not able to choose to be baptized, I was blessed enough to have
gone through something nearly as efficacious–learning much about and growing in great love for my faith here at St. Michael’s.