Amid the adversity that the year has brought, St. Thomas Aquinas High School inaugurated a new tradition that aspires to bring light and hope to all that it touches. Students and faculty gathered, physically distanced and with face masks, on the evening of Thursday, December 10 for the 1st Annual Christmas Tree Lighting. The event, organized by the Student Council with the assistance of the Campus Ministry Department, featured Christmas carols led by members of the school choir, a reading of the Christmas Story, prayer and the blessing of the trees, and a surprise appearance by Santa Claus himself, who lit the trees as the audience counted down to zero.
“I was honored to be a part of planning and celebrating the very first STA Christmas Tree Lighting, which I think was even more meaningful because we were able to make it happen during the pandemic,” said Anna Caruso ’21, member of Student Council and event planning co-chairperson. Karina Diaz ’21, the other co-planner added, “I thought it was an important event to introduce this year, an event that would bring the community together during a time of separation.”
Illuminated Christmas trees represent, in centuries-old Christian tradition, the light of hope and love that Jesus Christ brought to the world and serve as a remember for us to be His light to each other in our daily lives.
We hope that these Christmas trees inspire everyone who attended the ceremony and who see the trees as they pass St. Thomas Aquinas High School to be a light in the darkness and, as St. Ignatius of Loyola once said, “to go out and set the world on fire.”