One cross and two candles lead the red-robed Father Huete through the congregation of students wearing red tie after red tie. He bows at the altar, and the Mass of the Holy Spirit begins. “It certainly has been a long-time custom in all our Jesuit schools,” he remarked, “asking the Holy Spirit to bless what we do scholastically.”
It has been a very long Jesuit tradition, dating back to 1548. The first Jesuit school in Messina, Italy, started the custom, and the school The Society of Jesus established thereafter has celebrated this special Mass at the beginning of every year. The Mass of the Holy Spirit was not given its current name until Vatican II in the 1960s.
Since it is a Mass honoring the Holy Spirit, different rites are included in addition to the usual ceremonies. “Instead of using the regular readings and regular prayers, we use the readings from Pentecost,” said Fr. Huete. This is to venerate the Spirit even more during the liturgy. Sweet-smelling incense is used by the priest and altar servers during worship. The thurible is swung near important places around the altar, and even around the altar itself, for veneration, filling the air with incense.
During the Mass, Father Huete spoke of hope for a successful school year. In the homily, he explained the history of the school’s patron saint, St. Aloysius Gonzaga, whom our chapel is named after. Following the homily, many of the students in the assembly stood at the foot of the altar for a blessing in order to become Eucharistic Ministers after having fully completed the necessary training.
One of the most special moments of the Mass came at the Prayers of the Faithful. In accordance with the Gospel story about the preaching of the Apostles at Pentecost, students and teachers lifted up our petitions to God in many different languages. Korean, Hungarian, German, Mandarin, French, Afrikaans, and Spanish were all spoken.
Later on in the liturgy, Jesuit welcomed new teachers, staff, and faculty members to our family. Thirty-two men and women were presented with prayer booklets and a round of applause from their new school. They say that the family that prays together stays together, and our new faculty members can grow in faith with us all throughout his year, and beyond.
This Mass had a positive impact on many Jesuit students. Nate Ampil ’18 said that he “enjoyed seeing the entire Jesuit community come together for the first Mass of the year.” Mrs. Crowder, the Director of Campus Ministry here on campus, also had plenty to say about the Mass of the Holy Spirit. “The fact that this is something that Jesuit schools all over the world do every year is amazing,” she said during a Monday interview. “It is cool to know that other schools are doing the same thing at the same time. It kind of gives you that global connection.”
