Students Reminded of Humility and Saying 'Yes' to God's Will

 

Seniors at St. Louis Catholic High School were reminded of the importance of humility and always being open to God’s will for each of them as they gathered for the annual Catholic Schools Week Mass on Feb. 2.

 

In celebration of National Catholic Schools Week — held Jan. 30-Feb. 5 — the Very Reverend Ruben J. Buller, Vicar General, officiated the special Mass in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, followed by a talk by Rev. Michael Caraway, Director of Vocations for the Diocese of Lake Charles.

 

Father Buller was also assisted by Rev. Nathan Long, pastor of St. Margaret of Scotland Catholic Church and rector of St. Louis High; and Rev. Levi Thompson, parochial vicar of Our Lady Queen of Heaven Catholic Church.

 

The Mass coincided with the Feast Day of the Presentation of the Lord, “a remarkable feast when we recall the story of when the Blessed Mother Mary and St. Joseph bring Jesus to the Temple to present him to the Lord out of obedience and humility,” said Father Buller.

 

“It is this humility,” he said, “that allows us to say what it is that we have, but more importantly to say what we don’t have.

 

“Humility is one of the greatest virtues that we can strive for. This is crucial for you, as students, to admit that you don’t know something. It is also crucial for each one of us in the Christian life to admit that we don’t have everything, and we must rely on God,” Father Buller continued.

 

“We don’t come into the world knowing everything. It takes humility on our part to say I do not have all the answers, Lord. I need you to teach me through my teachers, through the school that I attend, through my prayers and my understanding how I need God’s grace.

 

“It is only through humility, this striving always to say what we do not have, realizing that our Lord will fulfill what we need,” Buller emphasized.

 

Following the Mass, Father Caraway talked to the students about the importance of discerning their vocation in life, whether that be a calling to the priesthood, religious life, marriage, or single life. He explained that a vocation is a calling.

 

“Our hearts were made for a particular way of loving, and that is our vocational calling, the way in which our Lord is calling us to love like Christ in the world,” said Father Caraway.

“There is nothing greater than saying ‘yes’ to God’s will in your life. There is nothing more awesome than living your vocation well,” he stressed.

 

Father Caraway, who was ordained a priest in 2019, shared his conversion story with the students. It was not that many years ago when he was a quarterback on his high school football team and dating.

 

“During my own vocation journey, I came to the humbling realization that I had never asked God what He wanted me to do with my life,” he recalled. “I began asking God, ‘Your will be done, not mine,’ as I was on the path to becoming a dentist.”

 

Father Caraway explained that when people do what the Lord has made them for, that will bring the greatest fulfillment within their hearts.

 

“It is our duty to ask our Lord what it is he wants for us. That is when we will find the greatest fulfillment in our own life,” he said, “when we are doing what our Lord made us for.”

 

In addition to St. Louis High, other Catholic schools in the Diocese are Immaculate Conception Cathedral School, St. Margaret of Scotland Catholic School, and Our Lady Queen of Heaven Catholic School, all in Lake Charles; Our Lady’s Catholic School in Sulphur; and Our Lady Immaculate Catholic School in Jennings.