President Faust Encourages Ricks Graduates

Graduates of Ricks College can be part of a new spiritual aristocracy who do things in the Lord’s way, said President James E. Faust, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, at the college’s graduation ceremonies.

That spiritual aristocracy is grounded in purity and faith, President Faust said. “It is submission to the sovereign God, a willingness to do things in the Lord’s way,” he said. “By combining your spiritual learning with your secular learning, you can be armed and prepared for the daily assaults on your values and morals.”

“You must make a difference,” President Faust told the nearly 2,600 graduates. “You are part of the greatest work in the world.”

He asked graduates to stand firm so their influence and example might help reverse the moral dry rot in today’s culture. “This new spiritual aristocracy will seek not only to clean up the physical environment … but, by example and persuasion, the moral environment as well.”

Spiritual aristocracy will seek to reach right concepts and replace bad ideas with enlightened thoughts, he continued. It will not be led astray or intimidated by the sophistries of the insincere, hypocritical, or self-righteous. “To be a part of this new spiritual aristocracy, one must be involved in noble and selfless activities,” he noted.

President Faust congratulates Ricks College student. (Photo by Michael Lewis.)