Thanksgiving Mass

Today our school gathered to celebrate our Thanksgiving Mass along with the Saint Joseph Regional Junior High School community.  Our chaplain, Father Richard Dion, was the celebrant and Msgr. Anthony Fronterio, the rector of Saint Joseph Cathedral and the chaplain at St. Joe's, con-celebrated.  Patrick Dunn, a 7th grader at St. Joe's proclaimed the first reading and Victoria Fatukasi '16 read the second reading in her native Yoruba.

In his homily, Father Richard spoke of how as we grow, we come to appreciate things more and become more thankful (i.e. our parents, our home life, etc).  But, we must always remember to first and foremost thank God for all we have and then, once we have thanked Him, we can be thankful to everyone else.  He told the story of when he was pastor in Newport, he visited a home to anoint a mother who was very ill.  She had four children and all they had for dinner was a bowl of Cheerios.  After the anointing, he went right to the grocery store and bought tons of food for the family.  The kids thanked him over and over but, he said, the mother got it right.  She said, "Thank God."

Following some of their Masses, St. Joe's honors students for their service work or other acts of kindness.  If someone at the school notices a student doing something extraordinary, their name is put in the mailbox of the assistant principal, Mrs. Martineau, and Mr. Mailloux '72 (who is also the principal of St. Joe's) presents them with a pin at their next Mass.  So following today's Mass, a number of students were honored and came up for their recognition.

Today caps off an amazing week for me personally.  I love Thanksgiving as it is but between the Thanksgiving Baskets on Monday, the New Horizons breakfast yesterday, and the Mass today, I am able to celebrate the holiday with so much more joy.

Here's wishing all of you a blessed and joyful Thanksgiving!