Let This Be a Year of Joy, Purpose, and Transformation

At our convocation ceremony on August, 19, Chaplain Father Edward Vebelun, OSB opened the 2026-27 school year with an invocation and blessing. He reflects on the values of Saint Benedict, including hospitality, learning, prayer, service, and belonging. His prayer invites us to begin the year with a renewed commitment to growing in wisdom, and faith.

Read Father Edward’s full invocation and blessing below.

As we gather at the start of this new academic year, I greet each one of you—students, faculty, and staff—with warmth and gratitude. Whether this is your first time setting foot in the Abbey Church, or a place that already feels like home, know that you are part of something ancient and alive.

Saint John’s Prep is more than a school. It is a community formed by the tradition of Saint Benedict that is nearly 1,500 years old: the Benedictine way of life, rooted in prayer, learning, hospitality, and care for one another. Here, education is not only about what you know—but about who you are becoming. It’s about how you listen, how you serve, how you grow in wisdom and compassion.

We gather in this church—a place of prayer and promise—to begin again, together.

Let us now take a moment to entrust this new year to God.

Let us pray.

Loving and Faithful God,
You have brought us together from many places and with many stories,
to form one community of learning and belonging.
As we begin this school year,
we give thanks for the Benedictine values that shape our life at Saint John’s Prep:
a spirit of hospitality that welcomes all;
a love of learning that seeks truth with humility;
a commitment to listening with the ear of the heart;
and a call to serve one another with care and respect.

Bless our students with wonder and courage,
our teachers and staff with wisdom and creativity,
and all of us with a deep sense of connection to You and to one another.

May this be a year of growth in mind and heart,
a year when we support each other through challenge
and celebrate each other in joy.

Guide us in all things,
that our lives may reflect your goodness
and bear witness to the spirit of Saint Benedict in our world today.

We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ,
our Teacher and Lord.
Amen.

Let this be a year of joy, of purpose, and of transformation.
May God bless you, and may Saint Benedict walk with us as we begin.

Father Edward is the Chaplain of Saint John’s Prep.  He is originally from Lisbon, Ohio and has been a monk of Saint John’s Abbey since professing monastic vows in the year of 1995.  Father Edward spent more than twelve years at the Saint John’s Priory in Japan. Father Edward has most recently served as Pastor in the Albany and Avon, Minnesota area.  Father Edward is also the Prior of Saint John’s Abbey, located in Collegeville, Minnesota.
Saint John’s Prep was founded in 1857 by the Benedictine monks of Saint John’s Abbey. The abbey is the parent and founding institution of the prep school.