Queen's Servant: "25-Year Reunion Prayer" Written for MHS Class of 1992

09 June 2017

"25-Year Reunion Prayer" Written for MHS Class of 1992

Cadet LTJG Dennis "Little Man" Purificacion,
MHS NJROTC, Class of 1992
(w/sisters Michelle & Rachel)
(photo taken as a surprise bday gift for our Mom)

MORE OLD HIGH SCHOOL PHOTOS BELOW

A 25-Year Reunion Prayer

Composed for Milpitas High School Class of 1992

by Rev. Deacon Dennis Purificacion, Ed.D., S.T.L., MHS Class of 1992

For Perpetual Memory

Dear God, Almighty Father, Creator upon whom our country was founded,

and from whom we have been endowed with our rights to life, liberty & the pursuit of happiness,

we acknowledge You & we thank You for gathering us here today.

We thank You especially for these past 25 years!

We are grateful since taking first steps across that ordinary yet momentous graduation stage.

Those first steps were among the first of many steps that have made each of us who we are today.

Much has happened since our graduation in 1992:

We have seen developments in technology & social media that have changed the way we live.

We have lived through 5 different U.S. Presidents.

We have seen the horrors of 9/11 & major wars. And we have seen new heroes arise.

Through tragedy, we have seen strangers sacrifice life & limb for their fellow human beings.

Since 1992, we have made choices that have affected loved ones & our communities.

We reminisce with deep fondness those beautiful memories that have lasted all these 25 years.

And we are filled with gratitude & joy for them.

But we also remember relationships where we learned how to grow.

For any wounded relationships of hurtfulness, we ask for the spirit of forgiveness & love.

Now, as we enkindle new relationships in 2017, we beseech you to bless our gathering here.

Let us, this day, be ourselves. In the spirit of humility, let us be who we were intended to be.

We ask you to bless those not with us today. Protect & guide them with your Providence.

Bless Principal Chuck Gary, other administrators, teachers & staff who stood by us in our youth.

Bless the organizers today & all their seen and unseen work, especially Joy Anne Bonadio.

As we close this 25-Year Reunion Prayer, we call to mind two glorious virtues of our mascot.

Our school mascot, the mighty warrior of Troy, exuded endurance & energy.

May the endurance & determined energy of the Trojan warrior of ancient Greece be ours, too.

Grant us the ardent endurance to love, especially when it is difficult to love in our broken world.

Grant us the zealous energy to serve others, especially the poor & those less fortunate.

May we be proud, forever always, to be the great & mighty Milpitas High School Class of 1992!

We ask all this in Your Name & in the Name of Your Son whom you sent into the world. Amen.

senior portrait

(This is my 2nd year as a catechist w/my friend Melissa Pereira who is on the left 1st row.)

(Melissa and I liked St. Dominic Savio as one of our favorite saints.)

10th Grade

1st class -- the rest is history

friends threw me a surprise birthday party (L to R: Dave, Dino (RIP), and Willie Tao)

I miss you, Dino.

(I was attracted to suspenders b/c the first permanent deacon I knew, Deacon Eugene O'Sullivan, wore suspenders under his deacon vestments. I wanted to be like him.)

This is my good friend, David R. Hunt.

He was the finest cadet I ever served with.

Behind us is our teacher, CDR John J. Thomas, USN (Ret.).

Here I am incensing the Blessed Sacrament with Father John Sweeny

@ Our Lady of Peace Church in Santa Clara, CA.

I was one of Father's altar boys in high school. I knew him as Fr. Sweeny.

(If I ever served on a canonization committee, I would be happy to be on his cause for sainthood.)

Sometimes I feel like he helps me, even though he died many years ago (I wanna blog about this one day).

World Youth Day 1993 in Denver w/Pope St. John Paul the Great was a watershed moment for me.

Richard Anthony Hernandez (3rd from left) was a mentor and was my first theology teacher.

He became a Byzantine Catholic priest later.

Homecoming 1991

(12th Grade)

The picture above of my senior year in high school reminds me of something: At the end of my junior year, I was part of an Honor Guard for MHS Graduation for the Class of 1991 (not 1992). As I stood at attention with a hand salute, one of the graduates walked up to me and kissed me on my cheek! I never found out who she was after all these years.

Of course, this wasn't in high school. I was in elementary school.

This is my First Holy Communion w/Fr. Charles Dougherty (some of the teenagers called him "Fr. C.")

I began attending daily Mass in 10th Grade, on Sept. 28 1990, the Feast of St. Lorenzo Ruiz, my Confirmation patron saint. I am sorry that I did not add Confirmation pictures here.