The light of Christ is shining brightly ahead of Christmas in Coal Township, where PreK-12 students at Our Lady of Lourdes Regional School donated well over 350 individual toys before the start of their annual Mass a week before the celebration of the Nativity.
The years-long tradition at Lourdes helps bring cheer to children in the form of donated gifts. By many accounts, this year’s donation – from dolls and bikes to stuffed animals, board games and sports gear – was the largest in recent memory. After being brought forth one by one by the entire student body, the toys were given to the Salvation Army for distribution to boys and girls who might otherwise have gone without gifts this Christmas.
Stewardship is lived out at Lourdes throughout the year. The school annually holds a mission drive to financially support children in need throughout the world, in addition to donations of food ahead of Thanksgiving and a springtime collection of infant items to support clients at Birthright of Sunbury.
Bishop Timothy Senior celebrated the Mass on December 17 in the school gym and was joined by several area pastors for the liturgy. In his homily, the bishop commended the students for their impressive donations of toys.
“Be conscious of the love and blessings that God shares with us and that we share with others. As we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, we’re so conscious of God’s goodness, and we want that to overflow to others,” he said.
“God calls each one of us uniquely to be close to Jesus…. Each one of us have been born into the world – just as Jesus was – for a reason, for a purpose. Discovering that reason and pursuing it is the most important thing we’re ever going to do,” the bishop said.
As a special treat, Bishop Senior impressed students and faculty after Mass by playing a number of Christmas carols on the piano and leading the group in a spirited sing-a-long that included Angels We Have Heard on High, Jingle Bells, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Santa Claus is Coming to Town. At the conclusion, the entire student body thanked the bishop with a rousing standing ovation.
Bishop Senior also spent time with members of the Student Council during a luncheon that included local clergy and Sister Mary Chapman, IHM, principal, and Sister Brenda Query, IHM, director of campus ministry. The luncheon afforded the students a chance to learn more about the bishop’s life, vocation and hobbies, and he took an interest in their school activities, college plans and family background.
Learn more about Our Lady of Lourdes Regional School at www.lourdesregional.com. A full-length video of Bishop Senior leading the sing-a-long can be found on the school’s Facebook posts from December 17.
(Photos by Jen Reed, The Catholic Witness.)
By Jen Reed, The Catholic Witness
