At Mass celebrating high school seniors, bishop told students to ‘stay close’ to Jesus, Church community

Maura Baker

Staff Writer

Students of the Class of 2026 were joined with faculty and administrators for the High School Senior Mass, April 17, at the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, Covington. The Mass — celebrated by Bishop John Iffert — united the senior class of each diocesan high school in prayer and celebration of their upcoming graduation in May.

Kendra McGuire, superintendent of Schools for the Diocese of Covington, greeted students prior to the Mass. As students ask themselves questions regarding their futures, Mrs. McGuire challenged them to ask another question, as well. “What is God’s will in your life?” she asked students. “Our lives should be centered around Jesus, and we should always strive to follow him. Doing so will help us to reach the purpose of earthly life, which is eternal life in Heaven.”

In his homily, Bishop Iffert also addressed students, saying, “Though you have journeyed now through four years of Catholic high school, some of you maybe 12-13 years of Catholic School — some of you still don’t know how you’re going to take Jesus. Some of you still don’t know what to make of his request on your life.”

“It is a request for complete obedience of gift,” Bishop Iffert said. “Jesus teaches that he is our salvation. He is the one worthy of worship. His mission should be our mission … Our relationship with him is more important than any other relationship. What we will have and the purpose of our life, what we should choose to do in our life, our path forward should be guided by how we have come to know and love him, and how he calls to us.”

He said, “It is a complete and demanding invitation from Jesus Christ, the Lord.”

“If you’re having difficulty knowing how to take Jesus and the Church,” Bishop Iffert told the students gathered. “If you’re having difficult knowing what to make of your parents and their insistence about how you behave; if you’re having difficulty knowing what to make of all the demands and requests that people are making of you right now, remember: You don’t know what you don’t know until you know it.”

“Hang with us,” said Bishop Iffert. “Be present if you haven’t already … seek out someone who can teach you how to develop a relationship with Jesus.”

Inviting them to stay close to their Church community, Bishop Iffert reminded seniors that “We do not come to abundant life. We do not come to joy, we do not come to happiness, we do not come to full maturity, we do not come to full humanity by trying to take Jesus and make him over in our image or by trying to force him to become what we want him to be … We come to all of that through relationship with Jesus.”

“Part of the way we know him is in one another,” he said, “and the sanctifying graces of the Church. Stay close, even if right now you don’t know what to make it about — stay close and find someone to guide you.”