Undergraduate classes halted between 4-6 p.m. on Wednesday to allow students, faculty, representatives of varying religions such as Jesuits, Muslims and Orthodox Christians and other members of the Marquette community to attend the annual Mass of the Holy Spirit at the Church of the Gesu to welcome the academic year.
Beginning in 1548 at St. Ignatius College in Messina, Sicily, the first Jesuit school, the Mass of the Holy Spirit is a tradition celebrated to ask the Holy Spirit for gifts and wisdom in the academic year coming forward. Mass of the Holy Spirit anticipates the academic work students will do to grow in wisdom, community and faith in the upcoming year.
“We celebrate the gifts of the Holy Spirit, remembering the words of Ignatius ‘en todo amar y servir,’ to love and serve in all things,’ the Campus Ministry website said.
Mass of the Holy Spirit is different from a typical Catholic mass because an additional number of Jesuits were concelebrating on the altar to signify unity. Additionally, the Jesuits were all wearing red to symbolize the fire of the Holy Spirit.
Kimo Ah Yun, acting university president, said that as a Catholic Jesuit University, Marquette is dedicated to developing the minds and spirits of each student.
Marquette had the service planned since April of 2024, but with the passing of former president Michael Lovell in June, a moment of silence was added at the beginning of the service.
“When we are successful, we transform to be men and women for and with others. May we continue to honor [Lovell’s] spirit, to be the best version of ourselves each and every day,” Ah Yun said.
Joseph Simmons, the 2024 celebrant of Mass of the Holy Spirit and a member of the Society of Jesus, said that this year’s mass was different without Lovell, but his spirit is still very much alive within the community.
“He was such a wonderful man with his joy and his kindness and his generosity I think has influenced how people have been hired here in the past few years, and the culture on campus I think is reflective, ” Simmons said.
Simmons said that he had previously been involved in Mass of the Holy Spirit concelebrating on the alter among other priests, but was honored when Fr. Nathaniel Romano, S.J. asked him to preach for this year. In his homily, Simmons said that he was pulled over for speeding on his way to lunch with the bishop the day before he was ordained a priest, and what the officer said in that moment stuck with him for a lifetime.
“He said ‘I’m going to let you off with a warning. But just breathe. It’ll be ok. Go be a good priest.’ The next day when I was walking down this very aisle, I remembered not Jesus, not the Holy Spirit, but [the officer],” Simmons said.
Simmons said that it’s normal for students to feel like they don’t have everything figured out, and that they should approach uncertainty with asking for gifts of the Holy Spirit. He said the Mass of the Holy Spirit is scheduled at the beginning of the year for that very reason.
Michael Stuckslager, a first-year student in the College of Business Administration said that he chose to attend Mass of the Holy Spirit because he had attended the mass at previous schools.
“[Mass of the Holy Spirit] is important because it builds culture. There are certain masses in certain parts of the year that line up with St. Ignatius and with the advancing spirituality he made, and going to those and being a part of them is definitely important in getting an all-encompassing view of a Jesuit university,” Stuckslager said.
“We know that the gifts of the Spirit are not inherited to us when life is comfortable or life is easy,” Simmons said.
Simmons said that students should take the nervous energy they feel at the beginning of the year and use it to to do something for their community, and that the goal of this mass is for students to realize they are not alone in struggles they may experience at the beginning of the school year.
“My hope would be that they can kind of recognize that nervous, anxiety, uncertainty about whatever’s in their lives that they can ask for the gifts of the Spirit to empower them to get involved, to find a community, to find a role model and desire to learn a little bit more deeply,” Simmons said.
This year’s Mass of the Holy Spirit was sponsored by Marquette’s Campus Ministry. They can be contacted at [email protected] or https://www.marquette.edu/campus-ministry/worship/mass-of-the-holy-spirit.php.
This story was written by Ellie Golko. She can be reached at [email protected].
Update: An update was made to the photo caption on September 11 to explain that our photos are from prior to the start of Mass of the Holy Spirit.
