October 28, 2025 // Bishop

Students Urged to ‘Spread the Fire of God’s Love’

Scott Warden

Editor-In-Chief

Bishop Rhoades Encourages Young People to Share the Good News with the World

On Thursday, October 23, thousands of Catholic school students, teachers, and administrators made their way to the Joyce Center on the campus of the University of Notre Dame for the annual All-Schools Mass.

After being unable to celebrate the Mass the two previous years while serving as a delegate at the worldwide Synod of Bishops in Rome, Bishop Rhoades returned to the Joyce Center this year and offered a joyful welcome to all the attendees, including the scores of fourth-grade students dressed as saints who occupied the seats nearest the altar.

Bishop Rhoades preached on the day’s Gospel reading from Luke, in which Jesus tells his disciples: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division” (12:49-51).

This particular Scripture passage can be confusing to students, Bishop Rhoades acknowledged.

“What does Jesus mean by this?” Bishop Rhoades asked. “Obviously, Jesus didn’t mean that He wanted to destroy the earth by a fire. Sometimes fire can be very destructive. We read in the news about forest fires, like in California, destroying homes and buildings and forests. … But Jesus did come to destroy something: He came to destroy sin. He came to destroy hatred. He came to destroy greed and all these bad things. He came to save us from these things, to save us from sin. When you think about fire, it burns and destroys, and the only thing that Jesus came to destroy was evil.”

He continued: “He came to bring His love, God’s love, to the world. And fire not only destroys, fire also gives light, and it gives warmth. … That’s another image of fire. Jesus also came to bring us God’s light and God’s warmth. Jesus loves us so much, and so when He says, ‘I came to set the earth on fire,’ He also means on fire with love. He came to bring the light. He is the light of the world, and he’s teaching the disciples about this. He says, ‘How I wish it were already blazing.’ He’s wishing that the fire was already blazing – the fire of love.”

Bishop Rhoades looked out on the crowd of fourth graders in their saint costumes and asked those who were dressed as St. Catherine of Siena and St. Ignatius of Loyola to come up to the stage with him.

Seven girls dressed as the 14th-century Italian saint came forward, most of whom wore a white tunic to replicate her membership as a Third Order Dominican. Others wore a crown of thorns to symbolize a vision St. Catherine had of Christ presenting her with two crowns – one of gold and one of thorns. She chose the crown of thorns to unite herself with Christ’s passion. Several of the students had markings on their hands to symbolize the stigmata, or wounds of Christ, from which St. Catherine suffered.

As for the boys, two were dressed as a priest and another as a soldier, as Ignatius of Loyola was both of those things. As he did with the girls, Bishop Rhoades quizzed the boys on what they knew about their chosen saint. When asked why he was dressed as a soldier, Oliver, a fourth-grade student from St. Pius X Catholic School in Granger, said it was because St. Ignatius was a soldier before he became a priest. He was wounded in battle, and while he was recovering, he spent a year reading about the lives of the saints. He went on to found the Jesuit Order, which remains one of the largest religious orders in the Catholic Church, with members working to spread the Gospel in more than 100 countries throughout the world today.

Bishop Rhoades didn’t pick these two saints – Catherine of Siena and Ignatius of Loyola – out of the blue. He did it to illustrate his point on our call to spread the fire of God’s love to the world. Inspired by the words of Christ in St. Luke’s Gospel, both saints are often quoted using similar sentiments. St. Catherine is quoted as saying, “Be who God meant you to be, and you will set the world on fire.” St. Ignatius often concluded letters to his missionary Jesuit brothers by writing “ite, inflammate omnia” – “go, set the world on fire.”

These saints, Bishop Rhoades said, “received the power of the Holy Spirit when they were baptized and confirmed. They spread the fire of God’s love, and that’s our mission, too: to spread the fire of God’s love. You can do that every day by being good or by helping the poor. Maybe one of your classmates needs some extra help with their schoolwork. Or maybe someone on one of your sports teams is struggling and you can help them. Maybe at home, your mom or dad needs some extra help, and you can show love for them by being obedient and being helpful.”

Catholic school teachers and administrators from the South Bend area told Today’s Catholic that the All-Schools Mass is one of the highlights of the school year.

“What I love about the All-Schools Mass is tangibly experiencing the unity of our diocesan schools,” said Angela Reese, a second-grade teacher at St. Michael Catholic School in Plymouth. “Coming together once a year with all of our students, staff, and even our priests to worship with one voice is such a gift. You can also feel the Holy Spirit at work in the sacredness of the music and our students’ unique gifts and talents.”

Melissa Green, principal at St. Joseph Grade School in South Bend, said she loves “that the fourth-grade saints are featured at this Mass, and I think Bishop Rhoades always does a wonderful job of engaging with those students and unifying all of us with a powerful message in his homily.”

Beth Badics, a fourth-grade teacher at St. Joseph, told Today’s Catholic: “What I love most about the annual All-Schools Mass is the beautiful opportunity it provides for our entire Catholic school community to come together and celebrate our shared faith. I also cherish the moment when our fourth graders get to showcase their hard work. Watching them research, embody, and present their chosen saints with such pride and enthusiasm is inspiring. It’s a meaningful way for them to deepen their understanding of holiness and share that joy with all of us. Moments like these make the All-Schools Mass a highlight of the year!”

Sister Gianna Marie Webber, principal at the Cathedral School of St. Matthew, concurred.

“We all love this particular Mass with the Bishop and with one another,” Sister Gianna Marie told Today’s Catholic. “It is a special time to worship together, showing our unity. This Mass shows us the true meaning of communion, with Christ as the center and source that brings us together to give thanksgiving for God’s sacrificial love. Having the many saints represented by the fourth-grade students throughout our side of the diocese reminds everyone that we are all called to the life of virtue, with the saints as our examples of faithfulness in the midst of obstacles that need to be overcome.  We are all called to be saints!”

Scott Warden is editor-in-chief of Today’s Catholic.