Students, faculty, staff, alumni and family members gather at John Paul II High School on April 28 for a Mass of Thanksgiving, following the canonization of St. John Paul II and St. John XXIII on April 27. (JENNA TETER/The Texas Catholic)
From The Texas Catholic
Hundreds of people gathered at John Paul II High School on Monday for a special Mass to commemorate the Catholic Church’s two newest saints—St. John XIII and the school’s namesake, St. John Paul II.
Students, faculty, staff, parents, alumni and other guests filled the school’s gymnasium to honor the two popes a day after the canonization ceremony at the Vatican attended by hundreds of thousands of people from across the globe.
Bishop Deshotel was joined at the Plano school by several other priests to concelebrate the Mass.
The Knights of Columbus led the procession and members of the school’s orchestra and choir dressed in formal attire as they participated in the liturgy.
In his homily, the bishop thanked the school administrators for organization the liturgy so quickly after the official canonization ceremony. He said that as he watched the ceremony in the early morning hours a day earlier, he reflected on why the two popes were declared saints.
“Despite what you read in the news media or what you see on TV is it not because of deeds that were great as the world accounts deeds to be great,” he said. “They are declared to be saints not because they were popular with the press. They are not even declared to be saints not because they ever committed a sin in their lives.
“They are declared to be saints because they allowed the Lord to transform them,” he said. “It is the goal in all of our lives as Christians to be changed, to be transformed, to be reformed and these two men in their vocations as shepherds of the flock of Christ on Earth gave themselves so completely to Christ that they were able to carry out the Gospel to the world.”
The bishop said that no matter one’s occupation or status that they are called to be saints.
He also asked the students to thank those in the diocese who have supported John Paul II High School because those benefactors of all walks of life have given “of their time and their and their treasure for you to sit here today and celebrate this liturgy in this school.”
John Paul II High School is in its ninth year and is the diocese’s newest high school. It currently serves more than 650 students in its co-educational college preparatory curriculum in grades 9-12.
