Good morning Friars, my name is Mack Hamilton from the Class of 2026.  Welcome to Mass, it’s an honor to be able to speak to you all.

“What is your deepest desire?” Is it fitting in? Making money? Is it making the starting lineup? Earning straight As and being accepted into that college that would make your life magical? Or is it something else?

For me, coming into Fenwick my greatest desire was to feel validated and noticed by my family, my classmates, my teachers and my coaches.  I did not want to be known as the kid who was just “Mae’s little brother.” For those of you who haven’t had the chance to meet my older sister, she is both my best friend and yet my biggest rival. She graduated from Fenwick in 2023, leaving me some medium-sized shoes to fill (we are not big people). 

Mae was popular and athletic.  If you meet her and she tells you she’s taller than me; she’s lying. I wanted to be all these things, but more. I wanted to prove to my family that I could do it all. Even though I almost need a step-stool to reach the podium today, my big personality, and sometimes, my big brain could make up for it. And so, when I stepped onto the hockey rink for the first time freshman year with the Fenwick hockey team, I quickly realized that brains and personality might not get you too far in a hockey game.

After a practice full of falling down, missed shots, and bad reps, I found myself being the athlete that I did not want to be. Initially I felt trapped, behind my peers, and disappointed in myself.  I resorted to complaining to my parents, and feeling sorry for myself because of my size; I was given something that I couldn’t control. I thought I was the worst. A failure. I thought that everyone else had it better than me in almost every way.

But then, I came to the realization that everyone has something going on that they wish they didn’t.  It all started  after a hockey game on a Saturday night. I was tired and frustrated after the game.  I was in the kitchen starting my homework, when my mother walked in with a blank, yet emotional expression on her face. She then told me that two of my middle-school friends’ mothers had been diagnosed with breast cancer. I immediately felt scared and concerned for my friends. I spent the next months reaching out to those friends, checking in with them, and praying for their mothers and their health.

A while later, I ran into them at a casino themed birthday party. I had just lost all of my “casino money” and was mad and ready to go find somewhere to pout. Then I saw my friends talking at the poker table. They were laughing contagiously with each other, and in my mind, did not look like people who had  mothers with cancer. I went up to them, and after a short conversation, I asked them how they despite their mother’s conditions, they managed to have such big smiles on their faces They both said something to the extent of,  “I just try to be the person that my mom would want me to be if she ended up not being with us in the end.” 

This message stuck with me, because it showed me that there are more important things than being a successful athlete, a popular kid, a brilliant student, or a winning card player.  It showed me that true success comes from what is going on on the inside, and not your outward achievements.

About the same time I began reading my Bible before bed, and I realized that the characteristics that I wanted to develop should be modeled after one person; Jesus. I then set the goal of trying to be even better than the person that my parents, my sister, my friends, my teachers and my dogs want me to be.   

I now want to be the person that my God wants me to be. Some of the characteristics God calls us to have can be found in our first reading today from St. Paul’s Letter to Timothy:

In an effort to grow to exemplify these virtues myself, I want to challenge myself to do four things:

As I have told you, I came into Fenwick desiring validation and notice from others. Now as I am getting ready to leave Fenwick at the end of this year, I have come to realize that the things that I desired then are not as important as what I desire now: the unconditional and unwavering love of God. This is the greatest gift that I can and have received and I am grateful that I am able to share it with you all. Thank you.