On Friday, June 30, 2023, ISAT-U Leon campus graduating students together with their parents, faculty, and staff gathered at Parish of St. Catherine of Alexandria, Leon, Iloilo at 8:00 o’clock in the morning for the 2023 Baccalaureate Mass. The students came together as a community in prayer before graduation. The liturgical ceremony was the opportunity for them to thank God for all the blessings he has bestowed upon them.

    The mass main celebrant was Rev. Fr. Manuel P. Gonzales. The gospel reading during the Mass was the parable of healing the leper. A man with leprosy came and knelt before Jesus and asked to heal him and Jesus touched him and immediately, he was cured.  In his homily, Rev. Fr. Manuel P. Gonzales related the gospel to graduation as a new beginning. He told the graduating students that the word baccalaureate comes from French baccalauréat, from Medieval Latin baccalaureatus, from Latin baccalaureus, an alteration of baccalārius (“young man aspiring to knighthood”), to resemble bacca lauri (“laurel berry”) (the ancient symbol of victory). He encouraged graduating students to look for a job first before entering married life. He motivated them to bring laurels to the university.

     The attendees of the mass went home happily after they had strengthened their faith in God.