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Note: These are graduation remarks delivered by Father John Yanas at La Salle’s eighth-grade graduation.

I offer my sincere congratulations to this year’s graduates. I share in the joy of your family, who are with us this evening.

Peace be with you.

First, I offer you a couple of anecdotes of two prominent figures of the last century: “Zero” Mostel, a distinguished actor of stage and screen, and Mother Teresa of Calcutta, a saint of the Roman Catholic Church.

In an interview, Mostel, whose parents named him Samuel, was asked how he came to be called “Zero.” He quickly replied, “My grades in school.”

Early in life his mother cautioned him that if he failed in the classroom he would amount to a zero, a nothing, and one of society’s many rejects. His mother hoped that he would be successful in life. She defined success in terms of wealth, power and prestige.

Zero would eventually achieve fame as the lead character in the award-winning stage musical “Fiddler on the Roof” and later in the popular motion picture, “The Producers.” Mother Teresa had a different view of the meaning of success.

In an interview, a journalist unsympathetic to Christianity in general and Roman Catholicism in particular, commented to the elderly nun that, despite all her hard work in Calcutta, one of the world’s poorest places, she had little positive to show for her missionary work. “There were few converts to the Christian faith,” he said.

Her earnest reply is worth noting.

“But, sir, I am not called to be successful, I am called to be faithful. There can be nothing more rewarding than witnessing to my faith in Jesus. Who am I? I am just a simple instrument, a pencil, in the hand of God. Conversions are the work of the Holy Spirit.”

Recall the old saying, “Nothing succeeds like success.” But what are America’s criteria for success?

At the end of the day, we must remind ourselves that the Church has never promised that she would convert the entire world.

Christianity is not after success.

After all, the founder of Christianity, Jesus of Nazareth, was nailed to a cross and abandoned by his disciples on the day of his death.

Christianity is the religion of the non-perfect. Yet, despite all the terrible scandals in her history, the Church remains a vital force in the contemporary world.

And that is an indispensable lesson for all who make material success the goal of their life.

A story: The 1962 New York Mets, a professional baseball team, had the dubious distinction of having the worst record in the modern era. In that year, they lost 120 games. The team could not hit, could not field and could not pitch well. This shameful record was broken only last year when the Chicago White Sox lost 121 games.

It is remarkable that in 1962 the Mets drew more fans to their ballpark, the Polo Grounds, than the powerful New York Yankees, who won the World Series the previous year, to Yankee Stadium.

But the New York media clearly loved them. Their aged manager, a character named Casey Stengel, enjoyed the love and respect of his players. He once complained to a reporter, “Can anyone here play the game of baseball?” Americans favor the underdog.

Deep in our souls we know that the underdog could be any one of us now or in the future. Jesus did, too.

Why were so many people attracted to Christianity and asked to be baptized? What prompted the slaves, the disabled, the poor, tax collectors, and all those who counted for nothing, to respond without hesitation to the voice of Christ?

Because of the message offered by Jesus.

The human being is created by God, loved by him, and destined for eternal life regardless of their status in society. The teachings of Christ were appealing and, indeed, revolutionary.

The corporate world rewards success and not failure.

We celebrate and honor the winners and belittle the losers.

But anyone who has ever competed in an athletic event knows, there must always be a loser. In a tennis match, for example, only one player wins the match, the other leaves the court a loser.

Is there a place in the heart of Christ for losers?

You betcha!

Dear graduates, the light shines in this place tonight. Your academic and athletic achievements are to be warmly commended. But you can be certain that your future will be a mix of light and shadows, success and failure, good and bad health, joy and sorrow.

“Our life is over like a sigh,” writes the Old Testament poet, the Psalmist. All things in life pass. Only heaven is eternal.

Only one teacher matters on the day of your graduation, Jesus Christ, who once said to his Apostles, “You call me a teacher, for so indeed I am.”

And the one lesson that is indisputably the most important is that Christ loves you, warts and all, and promises to be your friend as you continue your life’s journey.

Let me end my remarks by sharing with you a story dating back to when I was an eighth-grade student at Christian Brothers Academy in Albany.

In biology class I was asked to complete a multiple-choice test of 25 questions, four points for each right answer.

When my then-teacher, Brother Al, distributed the tests to the class, he singled me out for answering only one of the questions correctly. I received a failing grade of four.

The teacher ordered me to go to the dunce’s corner in the classroom.

I was embarrassed and humiliated.

All I can say to you this evening with a sense of profound relief is that life does not end for most of us at the age of 13 or 14!

The Lord is always ready to give us a second, and even a third chance.

Amen!

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