St. Brendan’s High School, Linwood,

Mass of Thanksgiving for Pupils, Teachers and Staff

 1. My dear brothers and sisters, my dear young people of St. Brendan’s High School, Linwood! Your school is about to close in order to amalgamate with St. Cuthbert’s High School, Johnstone, to become the new St. Benedict’s High School. Today, then, is a rather unique moment as the school community gathers for Mass in the school itself. I am sure you will be feeling sadness for the passing of a school where so much of your lives have been spent and which has meant so much to you for so many reasons: for teaching and learning, for achieving more than you ever imagined, for friendship and sport and fun, for growing up and becoming ever more happy, hopeful and fulfilled young people. And for that reason, understandable sadness merges with a glowing pride for your school and passes into a deep sense of thanksgiving for having been part of St. Brendan’s High School as pupil or as teachers or as members of the school staff. And I am glad to be with you today to share in this act of thanksgiving to God for your school.

 2. At times like these, we may wonder what the future will be like. What will the new school be like? Will I still have my friends? Will I relate well to new teaching staff? Will I feel comfortable in a new environment? The first reading today tells the story of the prophet Elijah who is a guest at the home of a widow and her son in a famine-struck part of the country. The prophet and the widow find that, for those who believe, God will provide what they need. The testimony of people who believe in Christ shows that when they are faced with a new and challenging situation, the first thing they do is to trust in God. So I would say that in your circumstances, you should go forward with trust and not let fear or doubt disturb your youthful happiness. I know that so much has already been done to prepare you for the move, so it is not a journey into the total unknown. You have had such a good grounding here. You can move into your new school with trust and with optimism. I am sure that God will bless all your efforts with happiness and success.

 3. Your own present patron saint, St Brendan, is an inspiration. He belongs to a noble line of early missionary saints in Ireland and Scotland including Patrick, Ninian, Brendan himself, Columba and Cuthbert who were the leading figures in the conversion of Ireland and Scotland from paganism to Christianity. A common feature of their activities is that they were all prepared to move around and to go on journeys, hazardous ones sometimes, for the sake of the work of spreading the gospel of Christ. Indeed our St. Brendan was also known as Brendan the Voyager. Your new school is not far away from here and you will not need to go on a voyage to reach it. But it will part of the exciting journey of your life, a journey we make always with the Lord as our constant companion.  

 4. And in today’s gospel, that same Lord Jesus calls us to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. This is our vocation in whatever school we are, wherever it is located. So, in the name of Christ, go on to be the salt of the earth and bring flavour to the world through your goodness; go on to be the light of the world and illumine the world through your faith and love. You can be sure that St. Brendan will not forget you and will continue to smile on you. St. Brendan, pray for us.

 St. Brendan’s High School

13^th June 2006