Our Youth

Honoring Saint Joseph at The Mary Louis Academy

March 22, 2017
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Recipients of The Mary Louis Academy’s Peace Makers 2017 Awards, as well as students receiving different sacraments for the first time, processed to the altar behind a small statue of their high school’s patron saint, St. Joseph, during the annual liturgy at Immaculate Conception Church, Jamaica Estates, March 16. (Photo: Melissa Enaje)

How does one celebrate Saint Joseph when he is not only the patron of the Universal Church, but also the patron saint of your school? At The Mary Louis Academy, Jamaica Estates, it is celebrated during an annual liturgy where every member of the school rededicates themselves to Jesus’ mission of justice and to an education with spiritual values, while striving to treat others with love.

Those renewing vows of their relationship with God included Sisters of St. Joseph who are also part of the Jamaica Estate high school faculty, as well as students receiving Holy Communion for the first time.

Freshman Anaya Bermudez felt a sense of unity with her classmates after receiving her First Communion, but it also united her with someone special in her faith journey.

“I feel better instead of sitting down watching my mom get (the Eucharist), I can actually go up with her,” said Bermudez. “So that’s something I like now when I go to church.”

 

For the hundreds gathered together that afternoon, it was also a moment to remember a holy man who could inspire their journey ahead, just like he did when leading the Holy Family through tumultuous times.

“We hear in the life of Joseph, Saint Joseph, yes he boldly spoke the language of Aramaic,” said Father Chris Cleary during his homily, “but I would say that there was another language that he not simply spoke in words, but spoke by how he showed as an example, and that language was the language of service, of kindness and of care that can be lived and part of our lives. In this day we are invited to consider a renewal of that language in our own lives, in our own hearts, in our own response to life situations and interestingly enough, that language is a language that deaf people can hear and blind people can see.”

Recipients of The Mary Louis Academy ‘Peacemakers 2017’ awards

(from left: Ariana Diaz , Julia Bonanno, Sydne Jackson, Jane O’ Brien and Mrs. Martha Rezin)

First Holy Communion Candidates and Sacrament Seekers

(from left: Tracey McGarry, Natalia Brillon, Anaya Bermudez, Jenna Blanc,  Nicole Lee)