“Come, Holy Spirit, enkindle in us the fire of Your love so we may go and set the world on fire”

The Ateneo de Manila Senior High School (ASHS) celebrated its Votive Mass of the Holy Spirit – a.k.a. the Red Mass - on the 3rd floor of the FLC in the morning of 16 August 2024.

The Red Mass is a Jesuit school tradition, dating back to 1548, during which the community gathers to thank the Holy Spirit for its gifts (wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord), and to seek its guidance and wisdom during the coming academic year. The Red Mass is named as such because the color red symbolizes the “tongues of fire” that descended on the apostles during Pentecost and filled them with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4).

In his homily, University President Fr Roberto “Bobby” C Yap SJ connected fire’s ability to warm, purify, and ignite to three ideas that are important to take to heart at the start of a new school year: the concepts of gratitude, renewal, and mission. First, he reminded the members of the ASHS community to call on the Holy Spirit to warm their hearts with gratitude because everything around us is a gift. Secondly, he pointed out that the fire of the Holy Spirit can purify what is not so good in us and renew us in God’s grace and love. And lastly, he emphasized that the flame of the Holy Spirit has the power to ignite passion and fuel one’s mission to be a force for good in the world.

“Come, Holy Spirit, enkindle in us the fire of Your love so we may go and set the world on fire,” Fr Bobby concluded.