Focus on blessings Holy Name grads told

By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press

The greatest calling in life is to be a disciple of Jesus, to follow him and to challenge others to do the same.

That’s what an alumnus of Holy Name Central Catholic Junior/Senior High School in Worcester said he believes - in part because of what he received there. 

Father Nicholas Desimone, who graduated from Holy Name in 2000 and is now pastor of St. Mary Parish in Uxbridge, was preaching at the baccalaureate Mass for the Class of 2020 Thursday at St. Paul Cathedral in Worcester. Bishop McManus celebrated the Mass, the last of the baccalaureate’s for the three Central Catholic high schools.  

The class didn’t attend the Mass and commencement ceremony because of coronavirus restrictions that were in place when the celebration was announced earlier this month. They could watch it live on the diocesan website or Spectrum cable TV.

Representing them at the cathedral were their classmates Benjamin Lanava, the valedictorian, who lectored, and Rebecca Paldino, who cantored, and their principal, Edward Reynolds, and assistant principal, Sandra Pollette, who read the graduates’ names as their photos were displayed.

“Our baccalaureate this evening is among the many rites of passage in honor and celebration of a graduating class,” noted Michael J. Clark, associate superintendent and head of school, who “presented” the class to the Bishop McManus.

Addressing the graduates, Mr. Clark said that, like so many rites of passage this year, circumstances prevented people from getting together “to honor you - and the goodness which God has chosen to work through you.” 

He said that “what is good, and true, and of God, is always and everywhere something to be honored and celebrated”  and that “to do so is a certain assurance of God’s ever-presence in our lives.”

Father Desimone also reminded them of Jesus’ ongoing presence, applying Scripture passages to their lives.

He began his homily with a story from his own life.

“It’s hard for me to believe that 20 years ago, in May of the year 2000, I stood before my own graduating class at Holy Name High School to deliver the student address at the annual awards banquet,” he said. 

Coming upon that speech recently, he re-read it, and pulled from it for this year’s class a Scripture passage from Deuteronomy: “You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.” He acknowledged they might not all feel blessed by present circumstances, but said God’s providence can bring good out of even the most difficult circumstances.

“And so tonight we choose to focus our attention on our blessings,” he said. “I count myself blessed to be an alumnus of Holy Name High School, not only for the education I was given but more importantly for the formation I received, formation to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.”

A disciple listens to Jesus, and learns from him how to live, pray and discern the Father’s will, he said. 

Father Desimone acknowledged that some of his listeners might “shut down” on hearing the word “disciple,” but said that, to him, there’s no greater calling.

He recounted the Scripture story about John the Baptist’s disciples following Jesus, who asked them what they were looking for. Father Desimone urged the Holy Name graduates to imagine that Jesus is asking them what they are seeking, what they think will make them truly happy.

At a loss for an answer, the disciples asked Jesus where he was staying, and he gave his first command: “Come and see,” Father Desimone said.

Jesus’s last command to his disciples was recorded in the Gospel read at the baccalaureate Mass for the feast of the Ascension: “Go … and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” 

Father Desimone said he hoped that the graduates have come to know Jesus more closely, not just know about him, at Holy Name; Jesus’ invitation to “come and see” is an invitation to know him. 

In coming to know him people discover the answer to the questions: “What are you looking for? What will make you truly happy?” Only God can satisfy “our hearts’ infinite longings,” Father Desimone said.

“You, the graduates of the Holy Name High School Class of 2020, ‘the last class,’ having been blessed by your years at the single greatest high school in Massachusetts (and yes, possibly the world), are now being commissioned, sent, just as Jesus sent out his disciples, to transform the world,” the alumnus said. Christians are to make Jesus known by the witness of their lives, with their words and actions.

Father Desimone said the graduates might have felt some of what he imagined the disciples felt, perhaps questioning whether they could do what Jesus asked, feeling uncertain about the future.

“To them, and to you, Jesus speaks these last words: ‘I am with you always, until the end of the age,’” Father Desimone said.  “Jesus has promised to remain with you forever, and that’s incomparably good news.”

To watch the Mass go to: https://worcesterdiocese.org/baccalaureate-masses

In Worcester, WCCA TV is re-broadcasting the Baccalaureate Masses from all three diocesan Central Catholic high schools. WCCA is Channel 194 on the Charter/Spectrum cable system and available in Worcester only. 

The times are:
Saturday, May 30, at 1:30 p.m.,  St. Bernard
Saturday, May 30, at 5:30 p.m.,  Holy Name
Sunday, May 31, at 12:30 p.m., St. Peter-Marian