Nearly 600 school students, staff, and clergy from across the Diocese of Lansing gathered at Saint Mary Cathedral in Lansing, September 17, for a Votive Mass of the Holy Spirit to mark the new academic year and to hear Bishop Earl Boyea deliver a challenging and unvarnished message to those young people present: following Jesus Christ and His Holy Church will bring you unavoidable hardship but also unsurpassed happiness.
“Now, I have to warn you, it's not easy, it's not easy, but it will give you life, life everlasting,” said Bishop Boyea in his homily.
“You know, in one sense, I've never really cared for the term ‘Catholic education’. I've always liked ‘Catholic formation’. We're always being formed. Who are we being molded into? Who's our model? Jesus Christ! The Catholic Church wants everyone, every single one of you, to be Jesus Christ.”
Bishop Boyea explained that an intellectual knowledge of Christ is necessary yet insufficient for anybody aspiring to be a Christian disciple. Hence the necessity of invoking the Holy Spirit so that our intellect can also inform our will. Loving Christ, he said, with both head and heart.
“The Holy Spirit is going to do this in you, and that's why we pray at the beginning of the year that the Holy Spirit come upon us, come upon our schools, come upon our teachers, come upon our principals, come upon our parents, come upon us, to move from the head to the heart,” said Bishop Boyea.
At the conclusion of Holy Mass Bishop Boyea gifted a prayer card, featuring the recently canonized Saints Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati, to all those present.
The Diocese of Lansing contains 36 Catholic schools spread across 10 counties including four regional high schools. In total, diocesan schools educate over 8,000 students. To find out more, go to: https://dolcatholicschools.org/
Holy Mary, Seat of Wisdom, pray for them!
