At our Advent Mass on the last day before Christmas Break, I had one of the most powerful experiences of God’s presence and action here at Prep. Once Communion was over and everyone was seated and quiet, choir soloist Maya Fray `24 began to masterfully sing “O Holy Night.” As the second verse began, another of our students, sophomore Ben Kapaun, gently and reverently began processing up the main aisle with the figure of the baby Jesus cradled in his hands. Once at the front, he tenderly laid the baby into the manger that had been sitting throughout the Mass empty between the figures of Mary and Joseph. As the words “fall on your knees” began, he stepped back and reverenced the manger and the altar with a slow and heartfelt bow. Then, as the third verse began, the lights began to slowly dim in the gym, and every bit as slowly, a spotlight began to send its beam toward the altar. By the end of the spine-tingling crescendo, all eyes were fixed where they belong – on Jesus – holy and humble – the one for whom we long – the one who is the point of all we do at Gonzaga Prep.What a wonderful reminder, as we head off in our many different directions for the Christmas holiday: That we are bound together by many expressions of a single vision – the mission of the one who was born in Bethlehem all those millennia ago, but lives in each of our hearts, and guides all we do at Prep to this day. May we be faithful to that mission!
Merry Christmas to all!
Father JK Adams, SJ