HUNTERSVILLE — Bishop Michael Martin shared his favorite response to the idiom “stay in your lane” with the graduating class of Christ the King during their Baccalaureate Mass May 21 at St. Mark in Huntersville. His answer: “It was never ‘your lane’, It’s His.”
“I pray for you that if CTK has taught you anything over these last four years, it taught you at least this one eternal truth. It's not your lane. It’s Christ the King’s Lane,” the bishop said. “It’s His lane. We’re just walkers in His lane on His journey.”
Over 500 parents, teachers, and parishioners surrounded the 107 graduating Crusaders as Bishop Martin presided over the Mass with co-celebrants Father Aaron Huber,
Father John Putnam and Father Chinonso Nnebe-Agumadu. Bishop Martin included faculty, parents and the graduates in his homily.
Bishop Martin explained he loves parents, having two of his own, he joked, but they don’t stay in their lane, especially during the formative years.
“When you were in elementary or middle school, they walked for you,” he said. As the students leave high school, he said, “They are not walking for you. They’re walking with you.”
The bishop cautioned the graduates that as they begin their next steps, they need to stay in God’s lane.
“Get out of His lane at your own peril. If you don’t think that’s true, good luck, you have learned nothing from this four-year experience, and you have learned nothing from your parents,” he forewarned. “The first moment they held you in their arms (they realized). This wasn’t all about them, but there was something much, much deeper. That it was His world, and we are just walking in His lane.”
As Bishop Martin proclaimed Jesus’ words in John 15:5, “Without Me you can do nothing,” he urged the graduates to repeat that mantra, “Without You, I can’t do anything in this world,” every morning.
Alluding to the Gospel allegory of the vine and its branches, the bishop waved his arms and explained that life, like branches can take you in unpredictable directions. “It goes this way and that way. You try to figure out the way, but He knows where it will take you,” he said.
Bishop Martin cautioned that like those branches, the lane is not always seamless, beautiful and straight. It can be messy, but they are not walking it alone.
“Christ the King Catholic High School is a better place because you walked these halls,” he said. “Now we need you to go out into the world to walk different halls, but not by yourself. Continue to unite with others through humility and grace to build God’s kingdom on Earth."
Graduating seniors like Nicholas appreciated his message. “His homily was surprisingly applicable. He did a good job of relating it to people our age,” he said.
Graduate Audrey added, “I like how he said you have to live with God by your side.”
“The bishop captured everything we are trying to share with our students,” said theology teacher Justice Blankenbaker. “These students are people of beautiful faith."
The second communal processional hymn was enough to induce tears from clergy and parishioners alike. Sophomore Maya Villalabos sang “Ave Maria” while graduates received their last Holy Communion as a class.
The line of graduates processed out of the church, not alone but with their classmates, their parents, their teachers, their clergy, and their Church behind them, united to celebrate their next steps as Christ the King.
— Lisa Geraci. Photos by Lisa Geraci and provided
