PROVIDENCE – Students from several Catholic schools participated in the annual Ash Wednesday Mass last week at the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul. Bishop Thomas J. Tobin was the celebrant; students from La Salle Academy, Bishop Keough and Prout high schools were in attendance.
Eighteen elementary schools from across the state also sent students to the Mass. From Mercymount in Cumberland to the Cluny School in Newport, nearly every corner of the state was represented.
The Mass – which members of the public also attended – was completely student-oriented and students of all ages participated. The choir from St. Mary Academy-Bay View sang several selections, which soared in the cathedral.
Katherine Owens, a student at St. Peter School in Warwick, and Matthew Palumbo a student at St. Augustine School in Providence, did the first and second readings. Sarah McDaid and Brandon Gayle, both students at the St. Joseph of Cluny School in Newport, read the prayers of petition. Kathryn Marchese and Dylan Woodson, both from St. Leo the Great School in Pawtucket, presented the gifts to Bishop Tobin. Students from St. Luke School in Barrington were the altar servers.
In his homily, Bishop Tobin reflected on the Patriots' crushing Super Bowl defeat last weekend. He asked the students to realize that although the football team ultimately did not achieve the perfect season they and their fans had hoped for, their hard work and struggle should be an inspiration to everyone.
"We too are called to have a perfect season; we're called to be perfect in our faith to God," Bishop Tobin said. "Sometimes, despite our best efforts, despite the fact that we try very hard, we fall short of that goal. We don't achieve that perfection. And that's where the season of Lent becomes so very important for us."
Lent, Bishop Tobin told the students, is a chance for Catholics to renew their faith. "It's an opportunity for us to recognize our sins and our failures and our imperfections and it's an opportunity for us to renew our commitment to do a little better, to make some improvement in our lives.”
On the first day of the Lenten season, Bishop Tobin reminded the gathered students not to become discouraged if they find imperfection in their lives. "Sometimes we fall a little bit short, but it's so very important that we never ever get discouraged, that we never give up," he said.
Before placing ashes on the foreheads of the hundreds gathered there, Bishop Tobin emphasized the meaning behind the ceremony. The ashes, he said, are "a reminder to ourselves and they are a sign to everybody else that we are very serious about the Christian life."
