Procession a ‘great way’ to start school year

By Lindsay Steele
The Catholic Messenger

Students and staff at Saints Mary & Mathias Catholic School participated in a eucharistic procession last month to kick off the academic year.

Father Chris Weber, pastor of Ss. Mary & Mathias Parish in Muscatine, said the procession was inspired by the National Eucharistic Revival, an initiative of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Its mission is “To renew the Church by enkindling a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist” (https://tinyurl.com/2p93v877).

The procession began after an all-school Mass in the school gym Aug. 29. Father Weber, Father Isaac Doucette and Deacon Dennis McDonald walked through the halls and brought the Blessed Sacrament to each classroom. “The students knelt by their desks for benediction and then joined in the procession as we moved to the next room,” Father Weber explained. The priests and deacon blessed each classroom and its students. Preschoolers received a blessing and prayed before the Blessed Sacrament but did not join the procession.

“It was nice that each of our classrooms were blessed,” said Rusty, a seventh-grader. After processing outdoors on school grounds, staff and students participated in solemn benediction on the school lawn. Alex, an eighth-grader, said the procession was special and “a good reminder that God is our leader and he is in everything.” Classmate Aiden said, “Getting to be in the presence of the body of Christ… was a good reminder that he is always with us.”

The eucharistic procession “was a great way to start the year,” Father Weber said.