To the Band of Brothers: September 14, 2022
Today I will celebrate FLEX Mass. I’m excited, not only because I will be exercising the most important part of my priestly ministry, but also because I will be celebrating FLEX Mass for the first time this year. Unlike last year, the new chapel gives us the opportunity to have Mass, not by homeroom, but by grade. This is just one more way of strengthening the ties that bind us.
By the way, if your parents want to come to that Mass or any FLEX Mass, they are more than welcome to attend.
What a great day to be at Mass. September 14th marks the feast of the Exultation of the Cross. To think we have in the Church a feast to recognize and celebrate what has historically been the most appalling instrument of torture and death. No culture, no empire, no era has produced a ghastlier form of punishment as inhumane as the cross. Not the electric chair, lethal injection, or firing squad comes close to the inhumanity of the cross. And yet we, the Church, have a specific day to sing its praises. How is that possible?
Well, it’s possible because of Jesus. It’s possible because once, upon that wooden structure conjured up by ingenious Romans over 2000 years ago, was nailed the body of Jesus. It was his presence on that cross that transformed what for hundreds of years was a symbol of despair and death into a symbol of hope and life. So transformative was the redemptive and loving act of Jesus that we now hang that tortuous tool over our doors, around our necks, and gift them to people we love. It is amazing what transformative power the love of Jesus has; what potential, and what greatness.
Well, it’s possible because of Jesus. It’s possible because once, upon that wooden structure conjured up by ingenious Romans over 2000 years ago, was nailed the body of Jesus. It was his presence on that cross that transformed what for hundreds of years was a symbol of despair and death into a symbol of hope and life. So transformative was the redemptive and loving act of Jesus that we now hang that tortuous tool over our doors, around our necks, and gift them to people we love. It is amazing what transformative power the love of Jesus has; what potential, and what greatness.
Later this morning, when I preside over a Mass filled with all the members of the class of 2026, I too will be awed by their potential and greatness. Much like the triumphant cross of Jesus Christ, these young men with their bright eyes and bushy tails have the power to transform the world with their love, with their lives, with what they learn here at Belen. In a world that for hundreds of years has been so scarred with despair and death in all its shapes and sizes, it will be the young men who sit this morning in the chapel, the young men who will sit at our desks, that have the potential to transform it into a world of hope and life for thousands of years.
Auspice Maria
Auspice Maria
BELEN JESUIT PREPARATORY SCHOOL
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: communications@belenjesuit.org
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: communications@belenjesuit.org
Belen Jesuit Preparatory School was founded in 1854 in Havana, Cuba, by Queen Isabel II of Spain. The task of educating students was assigned to the priests and brothers of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), whose teaching tradition is synonymous with academic excellence and spiritual discipline. In 1961, the new political regime of Cuba confiscated the school's property and expelled the Jesuit faculty. The School was re-established in Miami the same year, and over the next decade, continued to grow. Today, Belen Jesuit is situated on a 34-acre site in western Dade County, just minutes away from downtown Miami.