Father John Pearson, of Saint Mary's Campus Ministry, discussed the hidden beauty found in everything at the Saint Mary's opening mass Sunday.
Before mass, Sister Rosanne, who lives in the Saint Mary's Convent, said there was not enough room for all the Holy Cross sisters that wanted to attend in the church but they were watching through closed circuit televisions.
"They are praying for you on a regular basis," she said.
Pearson presided over the Mass.
He started his homily with a prayer from Saint Augustine. The prayer highlighted the beauty that is all around us, which was the theme for the mass.
With the great weather outside, "it's easy to say when we see all the beauty we see today that it is a glorious Earth, but when the wind is howling and the branches are frozen, that is when we have to see God's beauty," Pearson said.
He said that when the beauty changes, God does not change, and pointed out the beauty found in every person in the students' lives.
"Think of all the security workers and dining hall staff. When asked about Saint Mary's College they would say, we're beautiful because we reflect the Lord," he said.
He said beauty can also be in things students might find unpleasant.
"Think of your roommate, your RA, or the grass cutter who cuts the grass at 6 a.m. and you just wish he would wait till 8 a.m. They're beautiful because they are trying to do God's work," he said.
Pearson explained that the beauty he was talking about was present because of the students' search for God's will.
"As a Saint Mary's community we are all trying to find our own way. We are a group of people finding out what God wants us to do," he said. "Even if we have trouble finding that out, who is to say we are not beautiful?"
He reminded the students present of the importance of the Holy Cross family and the Holy Cross education. Referring back the founder Basil Moreau, Pearson stressed the need to educate the heart just as much as the mind.
"Whether we succeed or fail," Pearson said, "we have no right to say we are beat, because God created us and our God is beautiful."
At the end of Mass, College president Carol Ann Mooney spoke about the concept of community.
"Our Catholic school is part of the Holy Cross family. This family benefits society because take our education and put forth it in all of our efforts, and there for, society is better," she said.
As a gesture of unity, Mooney gave lighted candles to eight members of different academic and administrative departments on campus and a representative from each of the four classes. The students received the candles with the message "receive light and alter you, as Jesus promised."
