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SANTA FE 鈥� Ben Sasse may be dying, but he鈥檚 still spreading a message of hope and humor.

The former U.S. senator from Nebraska and University of Florida president spoke to 120 graduates at St. John鈥檚 College for the school鈥檚 2026 commencement on Saturday, eliciting laughs as he discussed the divisiveness of the current political moment, the encroachment of artificial intelligence and the importance of finding a spiritual calling in life.

He told the crowd of roughly 500 that he was likely the first speaker to address a graduating class while 鈥減retty dang high鈥� on morphine as he struggled to recall his Chaucer 鈥� one of many authors upon which the college鈥檚 nationally regarded liberal arts curriculum is based.

鈥淚 want to make a confession, since we're among friends, that if I'm being honest, I don't think I ever really read all the way to the end of 鈥榃ar and Peace鈥� or 鈥楾he Brothers K,鈥欌�� Sasse quipped, drawing laughter from students, parents and faculty who gathered on the school鈥檚 sun-dappled plaza.

Sasse, a Republican from Nebraska who completed graduate studies at St. John鈥檚 Annapolis campus in 1998, has made several media appearances in recent months amid his public cancer battle.

His media rounds included a 60 Minutes segment last month, when he said his disease had metastasized and credited his extended survival through his illness to 鈥減rovidence, prayer and a miracle drug.鈥�

The drug is Daraxonrasib, a trial cancer therapy that has in some cases doubled survival rates for metastic pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest and most aggressive forms of the disease.

Prior to his diagnosis, Sasse served as president of University of Florida from January 2023 through July 2024, when he resigned after his wife, Melissa, was diagnosed with epilepsy.

The former education administrator鈥檚 wife and 14-year-old son, Breck, attended St. John鈥檚 commencement over the weekend. Sasse also has two daughters, Elizabeth and Alexandra, who are both in their 20s.

Sasse was serving as president of the University of Midland University in Fremont, Nebraska, when he ran for U.S. Senate. He was elected in 2014 and reelected in 2020.

While in office, Sasse emerged as one of a minority of Republicans to vocally criticize President Donald Trump, voting along with seven other GOP senators to convict the then-45th president of incitement of insurrection during Trump鈥檚 second impeachment trial.

During his commencement speech, Sasse made mostly oblique references to politics and the current president, couching his speech in the school鈥檚 classical curriculum, similar to a visit to St. John鈥檚 last month by public intellectual Cornel West.

While introducing Sasse, College President Walter Sterling proudly noted the number of references to the ancient Athenian philosopher Socrates the former senator made during his first speech to Congress in 2015.

鈥淚 count six times, without having researched it,鈥� Sterling said. 鈥淚 am confident that was a record of some sort, and fitting for a Johnny to hold.鈥�

In Sasse鈥檚 view, the greatest threat Americans face today is not political, but technological.

Sasse warned that the rise of the digital age and rapid advancement of AI place an even greater importance on intellectual rigor and person-to-person relationships.

鈥淭he biggest coming divide in American life is not race, it is not class, it is not income,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he biggest divide will be between people who figure out how to harness the tools with technology and near limitless information through AI 鈥� versus those who passively submit to outsourcing their attention, their affections and their habits to these new super tools.鈥�

In closing, Sasse recommended St. John鈥檚 graduating class adopt five habits: Read well, work hard, rest consistently, travel seriously and build relationships.

Undergirding those axioms, Sasse concluded, is a need to make contact with one鈥檚 soul, a key Socratic principle.

鈥淥ur studies of poetry, the philosophy, and indeed even the sciences taught us the world is beautiful, and we, more than material beings, are drawn to beauty, and we rightly recoil at death,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e are from dust, and to dust we shall return. But we're more than dust, we're ensouled creatures with speech, reason and passions, and we should never rush past these truths.鈥�

John Miller is the sa国际传媒官网网页入口鈥檚 northern New Mexico correspondent. He can be reached at jmiller@abqjournal.com.