The Padua Franciscan High School community gathered Friday at St. Anthony of Padua Church to celebrate an all-school Easter Mass, and during the service, they honored the late Pope Francis.
During the intentions, each one was read in support of Pope Francis’ work as leader of the Catholic Church for the last 12 years, including his visiting the imprisoned, being a good steward of the environment, and caring for the marginalized. On Holy Thursday, just four days before his passing, Pope Francis visited Regina Coeli, a former monastery that is now a men’s prison in Italy.
“When Pope Francis was elected, he chose the name Francis,” Friar Johnpaul Cafiero, OFM read. “We thought being a Jesuit that it was after one of the Jesuit Francis’, Francis Xavier, but he said, ‘No, I chose the name Francis after St. Francis of Assisi. He is to be my model in my name that I’ve chosen.’
“The Pope said, ‘For me, St. Francis is a man of poverty, a man of peace, a man who loves and protects creation.’ St. Francis, in turn, points to Jesus and said, ‘This is how we will all know that you are my disciples; that you have love for one another.’ As Pope Francis did, may each of us be a model of peace, simplicity, care for creation and love for one another, especially the forgotten and most vulnerable.”
Father Stephen DeWitt, OFM celebrated the Easter Mass, and he was assisted by Cafiero, as well as Deacons Tom Litwinowicz and Matt Harley.
Harley read the Gospel, and then, delivered a homily focused on recognizing God in the good things in life. He urged the congregation to always look for the good in life rather than focusing on negativity.
“The challenge with our lives is to every day go outside and to look for God, to be present, to see God, and to remember those moments,” Harley said. “Once we do recognize God, great things can happen. We can do great things. It calls us to do small things with great love. That’s what each and every one of us can do when we see God in our lives, when we walk with the Lord.
“The first thing we need to do is realize that God is everywhere. Jesus is always present in the mundane. He’s present in our everyday lives all the time. We need to open our eyes to see the risen Christ among us, that we are called to go out into that world to do the baptismal promises that we just recalled.
“Imagine if each and every one of us just once a day instead of complaining, showed someone a great picture of Jesus present in their lives, or shared a photo of a sunrise, or told someone, ‘This is where I saw Jesus today.’ Imagine the good that we could do, the hope, the joy that we can bring. Peter was so excited to see Jesus that he jumped out of the boat and swam ashore. To be that excited to tell someone else, ‘Look, this is where God is acting our lives in the ordinary, in the mundane,’ we will change the world. We’ll definitely change the world.”
Before the final blessing, students and faculty who are going on the school’s summer mission trips to the Dominican Republic and Tanzania were called to the front of the church for blessings of strength when traveling to do the Lord’s work for those in need.
