Fr Bobby Yap's final remarks during the 2023 commencement exercises of the Ateneo School of Government

Father Roberto C. Yap, SJ

Ateneo School of Government Commencement Exercises 2023

19 November 2023

On 31 July 1973, on the feast of St Ignatius, then Superior General Fr Pedro Arrupe addressed the International Congress of Jesuit Alumni of Europe. Fr Arrupe called for a Jesuit education with a deep commitment to social justice and social action:

Today, our prime educational objective must be to form men-and-women-for-others; men and women who will live not for themselves but for God and his Christ - for the God-man who lived and died for all the world; men and women who cannot even conceive of love of God which does not include love for the least of their neighbors; men and women completely convinced that love of God which does not issue in justice for others is a farce.

His words set off a process of reflection, which eventually impacted the Society’s commitment to its vision of education — serving the faith and promoting justice. Fr Arrupe called Jesuit schools, students, and graduates to be agents of change who will go to the peripheries, serving the last, the least, and the lost.

The same spirit continues to pervade Ateneo de Manila University. In 2019, the Jesuit thrust of faith and justice has been elaborated to four universal apostolic preferences: showing the way to God through the Spiritual Exercises, walking with the excluded and the poor in a mission of reconciliation and justice, accompanying the youth in the creation of a hope-filled future, caring for our common home.

As new graduates, we ask that you continually endeavor to apply what you have learned at the Ateneo School of Government: be change agents that will transform communities and build the nation. 

Waves of change may come, but we are confident that your Ateneo education will be your anchor of stability, keeping you grounded and motivated in answering the call to serve with excellence, compassion, and integrity.

Half a century later, there is still much to heed from Fr Arrupe’s message. After all, education does not end after graduation. So, my dear Ateneo graduates, enlarge and enrich your knowledge, understanding, and generosity of spirit for public service, and for caring for creation, our common home. Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam!

We send you to our communities with confidence, hope, and prayers.

Before we part, please allow your university President to give you a final blessing.  ASOG graduates, please rise, bow your heads, and pray for God’s blessing:

God be in your head
and in your understanding
God be in your eyes
and in your looking
God be in your mouth
and in your speaking
God be in your heart
and in your thinking
God be at your end
and at your departing

May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May his face shine upon you and be gracious to you.
May he look upon you with kindness and give you his peace.

Amen.

Congratulations, 2023 graduates of the Ateneo School of Government! Mabuhay!