Father Scurti’s Acceptance of Honorary Doctorate of Human Letters from the Board of Trustees

William Paterson University of New Jersey:
From Commencement 2010, at which Father Scurti received an
Honorary Doctorate of Human Letters from the Board of Trustees

For the past 31 years I have served at William Paterson University, as Campus Minister. I have been blessed with the opportunity to never limit my ministry in any way …I have been able to speak to students, faculty & staff of any denomination and discipline.
I am honored to have taught in the art, sociology and history departments, coming in contact on a universal level with our students and faculty. The blessings have been mine. During these wonderful years the stories abound. They contain
joy and sadness, death and baptisms, marriages and relationship counseling, graduations and achievements of our students.
My perspective and vision is religious & faith filled; each of you has a special relationship with your creator, I realize that my approach is Christian and universal, and I have come to realize that …
Everyone has a story. Let me paraphrase something I recently read…it spoke to me…and now…ALLOW ME TO ASK YOU….Where has your need to belong taken you? Has your search left you peaceful or discontented? Only the Creator understands the yearnings of your heart. Only the Creator can match your deep longing for something beyond yourself even deeper longing for you. Sit with the your Creator and hear him/her call your name. Journey within and listen to
this soothing voice tell you that you already belong. Find your innermost place. There you will recognize the unique cadence and texture of the Creator’s way of speaking to you and calling your name. The first way into that place in your heart is through the door of your natural gifts.
Listen to what your true friends say about you. Which gifts do they most often mention? These gifts express your essence, the “who” of you that cannot be taken away or lost. The second way to your innermost place is the door of your childhood dreams. When you were young and innocent, what did you dream of becoming? Childhood dreams contain the first echo of the
voice of the Creator. Uncover your dreams. Enflesh them. Dare to live them. They will connect you to the Eternal One and to other people. Third, find your identity in your experience of need.
In times of trial and sorrow, where do you draw strength? When all else seems lost, what keeps you together? Is it your humor, Your determination, your grace, your adaptability? Facing adversity is the work of the innermost heart and it reveals us to ourselves. We do this work in the place where the voice of the Creator is calling us by name. The Creator fashions you from
your desires, the multicolored threads of your strengths and weaknesses, hopes and fears, and from these weaves your existence. By exploring your gifts, your dreams, your sufferings and failures, you will find yourself and uncover the Presence of Eternity within you. The challenge is that we human beings have such a terrifying need to belong that we often panic and self-
destruct. In the Presence of the Creator you will find your way home. All you have to do is listen to the voice of the Spirit of the Creator within you….Mother Teresa of Calcutta
was a woman who loved the poor of India and whose love spread service to the poor throughout the world was
often ridiculed for her dreams to serve….her words help me…I share them with you

“Do it Anyway”

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.
Be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.
Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, will often be forgotten.
Do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.
Give your best anyway.
In the final analysis, it is between you and God.
It was never
between you and them anyway.

Copyright 2011. Fr. Scurti Ministries.
[email protected]

3 Comments

  1. Hello father, how are you? What a powerful message. You are truly bless. I miss you Father Lou.

  2. To the Rev. Lou Scurti. Your homilies are always a awakening insight into the unending Love that God has for us. An abundance of Peace, Health and Blessings upon you and those close to you. I remember(like it was yesterday) attending my 1st mass(Sunday 7pm) at campus ministry at William Paterson College.
    What a true blessing you are to those whose hear God’s message thru you!

  3. Comment:
    To the Rev. Lou Scurti. Your homilies are always a awakening insight into the unending Love that God has for us. An abundance of Peace, Health and Blessings upon you and those close to you. I remember(like it was yesterday) attending my 1st mass(Sunday 7pm) at campus ministry at William Paterson College.
    What a true blessing you are to those whose hear God’s message thru you!

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