“How can I live as Jesus wants me to live?”

Every class spending their final year at one of the Catholic schools in the diocese was invited – the Fifth-graders who will finish elementary school, the Eighth-graders getting ready for high school, and the seniors who are heading toward graduation. Bishop Mulvey welcomed each of them, mentioning that he had gone to Catholic schools his whole life.
 
In his homily, he emphasized that Jesus Christ is the reason for everything – “the reason that we are here, the reason that we can smile, the reason that we can forgive.” And Catholic schools have the advantage that Jesus can be present among us.
 
The Gospel reading of the day included Jesus’ prayer to the Father, “that they all may be one” (Jn 17:21). “Jesus always had a bigger vision,” the bishop continued. Even before facing death, “the only thing that Jesus had in his heart that night was unity.” As believers, if we are not united, we are a scandal. That doesn’t mean we won’t disagree, “but our question every day should be: ‘how can I live as Jesus wants me to live?’”
 
Jesus also gave us the key to building unity – his new commandment, “to love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 13:34). “We need to learn how to love – not in the Hollywood way, but loving our neighbor in a brave, courageous way,” said Bishop Mulvey. St. Paul explained how to do this in his letter to the Philippians: “Always see the other person as more important than yourself” (see Phil 2:3). The world tries to teach us the opposite, but if you try to live like this throughout the whole school year, you will discover that by the end, you will be happier, more joyful, and a better human being.
 
After Mass, Superintendent Dr. Rebecca Hammel and some students presented the Bishop with an early birthday gift – a donation he could use for something meaningful to him. Bishop Mulvey told them he would give the money to the Farm of Hope, a place where people struggling with addiction can find help and healing.