The altar servers were lined up and ready as Deacon Larry Gregg, who served as emcee for Bishop Edward Malesic, made sure each knew his or her part for the St. Paschal Baylon School Mass on Oct. 13.
They were ready – and excited – to be involved in the all-school Mass being celebrated by Bishop Malesic. The St. Paschal community welcomed the bishop with a green and yellow banner and a balloon bouquet outside the church doors. Father John Thomas Lane, SSS, St. Paschal pastor, and Father Juancho Ramos, SSS, parochial vicar, concelebrated. St. Paschal Baylon Parish in Highland Heights is a ministry of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament. The church was decorated with a creative art project made by day school and PSR students using visual symbolism to represent human life and our connectedness to all of God’s creation.
“It is really good to be with you today,” he told the students, faculty, staff, parents, grandparents and other parishioners who gathered for the Mass.
“People ask me what I like most about being a priest, or now, what do I like most about being a bishop. I like gathering with people. And celebrating Mass is the highlight of my week. It is the highlight of my day, today,” the bishop said.
He asked them to think about how Jesus gives himself to us – not as bread and wine. “No, we give him bread and wine and he turns it into his body and blood. He gives himself to us. And what is our response? We give ourselves to him. If we open our hearts to welcome Jesus, he comes to us full force,” Bishop Malesic told the congregation.
He asked them to think about Mary and how she opened her heart to Jesus – and Jesus entered her life. We believe that the life of Jesus began with the message of an angel to Mary, telling her she would be the mother of God’s son. “And she said, ‘Yes,’ be it done to me according to your will.”
If Mary had not agreed, there would be no Jesus, no Christmas, no Church and no St. Paschal School, the bishop said. When Mary said “yes,” she opened herself to the gift of life that God was offering her and because of that, we are able to be here, gathering to celebrate Mass, he added.
When our lives begin, we are just a couple of cells inside our mother’s womb. From those cells, we continue to grow until we are born, then we grow until we become adults, the bishop explained. It was the same for Jesus. He started out as God’s word and took on flesh of two cells within Mary, growing until his birth on Christmas. “And Jesus wants to continue growing in our hearts,” the bishop said.
Reflecting on the day’s Gospel, he said it was beautiful that two unborn children – Jesus and John the Baptist – were able to meet each other. John the Baptist leapt with joy because Jesus was near him.
“Let Jesus grow in you. Let your heart leap up to Jesus just like John did,” the bishop said. “That is also why we give every life a chance. Every life needs a chance to live and to come to know God’s love. All life is a gift from God. That is why we protect life, nurture life and respect life,” he added, noting that October is Respect Life Month.
“Life comes to us from God. And to reject life is to reject God’s gift. It is not good to reject a gift that comes from God,” he said, adding that we do our best to defend, nurture and respect all life in the womb and outside of it, too.
“All of you have lives that I give thanks to God for. You started small, but look how much you have grown. Let your souls grow, too. The more your soul stretches out to God. The more God has room to fill you with his love. Open your hearts to Jesus,” he told the congregation.
He also reminded them bullying is a challenge many young people face, but there is an anti-bullying program in every Catholic school. “That program is called the Gospel. Love your neighbor as yourself,” he said.
In the first reading, we heard God tell us, “Do not neglect to do good. Do good because you were made in the image of God. And God is love. There is much love in you,” Bishop Malesic said, explaining that love was placed there when we were only two cells old. “Share the love that God put in your DNA. Do good to each other and know this: God always does good to you because God is good all the time. And all the time, God is good.”
He reminded the students to thank their parents for making the sacrifice to send them to a Catholic school, pointing out it shows how much they are loved. “And they gave you life. Thank them. And thanks to the teacher who do so much for you and all those who volunteer here and make this a special place where every life is respected.” The bishop also thanked the administrators, priests and parishioners who sacrifice for the school, noting that they do good for the students, also.
After Mass, Father John Thomas Lane, SSS, St. Paschal pastor, thanked the bishop for his presence and for celebrating Mass for the school community. He introduced member of the student council who presented the bishop with a large, handmade spiritual bouquet, a Green Knights baseball cap – which the bishop modeled briefly – and a box of handmade chocolates crafted by a parishioner.
Father Lane and Diane Raguz, school principal, also guided the bishop on a tour of the 350-student school, which offers classes for preschool through eighth grade.
They stopped briefly in an eighth-grade classroom, where the bishop chatted with students about their upcoming confirmation. First-graders shared their favorite things about school, including recess, their teachers, gym and going outside, before praying the Hail Mary with the bishop. Kindergartners recited Bible verses beginning with various letters of the alphabet and preschoolers talked to him about their favorite activities and TV shows. In the music room, Bishop Malesic demonstrated his musical prowess by joining students in playing a Halloween-themed melody on small, hand-held drums. Students in art class shared their favorite colors with the bishop. Each classroom he visited prayed with the bishop and he offered them a blessing.
He and Father Lane also stopped in the school’s St. Isadore Media Center where he saw the TV set used daily by students to broadcast announcements, deliver the weather and sports reports.
Father Lane showed the bishop the school’s anti-bullying pledge and special mosaic created for the school’s 50th anniversary. He also learned that the school’s belief statements, which put developing the characteristics of compassion, character, courage and civility all centered on Christ as a priority, in addition to Christian witness through service, empowering students to be critical thinkers and problems solvers through the use of technology and creating authentic and diverse learning opportunities to maximize students’ potential for success. The school slogan is enriching minds, nourishing souls.
The parish was established in 1953 and the school opened two years later.
Learn more about St. Paschal Baylon Parish here.
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