I love this post! I am entering my 13th year as a Catholic School teacher. We attend Mass as a school every Friday morning, too. This morning, one of the “daily Mass goers” I recognized from the summer said to me, “It’s so good to have the children back again!” That was so nice to hear. Sometimes, as a teacher, (who has frequently relished the quiet calm of daily Mass during the summer), I wonder how the daily Mass crowd really feels about the 300+ little angels joining them and scooting them over in their pews each Friday morning. So I guess that now I know...they missed us and they are glad we are back. God bless them, because as we all know, “He who welcomes one of these little ones in My Name, welcomes Me.” On behalf of all Catholic teachers and students...Thank you for welcoming us!
School Mass
Posted by Lisa Hendey in Faith on Friday, September 05, 2008 7:00 PM
Boy I’ve missed that sound… the sound of 700 plus voices, in sing songy unison, proclaiming
“Good morning, Father Rob!”
to our pastor’s opening welcome at the start of his homilies. At our opening Mass this morning, Father Rob admitted that he’d missed it too - the sound of all of those wonderful young voices, gathered together for the Eucharist.
Father Rob came to us last October, following on the departure of a beloved but nearing retirement age pastor. He’s a breath of fresh air - a familiar face on our Catholic school campus as he makes time most days of the week to eat his lunch at the metal lunch tables with the students. For our boys, in particular, it is wonderful that they have almost daily interaction with a vibrant priest who is enthusiastic about his vocation.
So the sound of that familiar “Good morning Father Rob” refrain nearly brought tears of joy to my eyes this morning. These are the precious moments - the ones where you can tangibly feel God’s all loving hand in your life and his abundant outpouring of simple, wonderful blessings.
As a school community, we celebrate Mass together every Friday. It’s something I’ve too frequently taken for granted. Now, as Adam prepares to graduate this year and move on to high school, I find myself with precious few of these school masses left to enjoy with him, so I don’t want to miss any of them!
Following today’s gospel passage on the wineskins, Father Rob spoke with the children about the two most important commandments and gave each of us present homework for the week - to think about the following questions:
How do I show my love for God?
How do I show my love for God by the way I love others?
Following the homily, our wonderful teachers were blessed and commissioned for this new year. It’s so great to know that they will carry the graces that accompany such a blessing into their work in the classroom. In my mind, they are a great example of people who are showing their love for God by loving others. They could be teaching in other, more lucrative environments, but have made a commitment to our school and to these precious children.
So now, I’m off to do my homework and to reflect upon how I show my family and friends God’s love through my actions! And another great school year is off to the perfect start…
Comments (3) |
Filed under children, gospel, prayer, school
Print Article 
Email a Friend
Comments
My feelings exactly about celebrating the Eucharist with classmates! A few years ago, when our priest was giving the final blessing of the final mass of the school year, his farewell brought tears to so many eyes. I immediately thought---why wait ALL summer long to celebrate together again?? Thus was born our All-School Summer Mass. We celebrated our fourth one this past summer and had the largest crowd yet-- about 50% of the students. The kids just love it. Our priest grabs the opportunity to focus on the kids in his homily. Teachers and parents enjoy seeing everyone in the best possible place--worshiping our Lord! It seems it is now a tradition entrenched in our school.
Post a Comment
By submitting this form, you give Faith And Family Magazine permission to publish this comment. Comments will be published at our discretion, and may be edited for clarity and length. For best formatting, please limit your response to one paragraph and don't hit "enter" to force line breaks.
RSS Feeds
