Candidates for Confirmation – I want to congratulate our 8th graders who will celebrate their enrollment as Candidates for Confirmation at this Sunday’s 8 am mass. Do you remember your own Confirmation? Did anything special happen to you when the Bishop prayed that you may eceive the gift of the Holy Spirit? At the first Pentecost, St. Luke the evangelist reported that they (the apostles) “were all in one place together. 2 And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. 3 Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim” (Acts 2:1-4).
That was certainly not my experience. In fact I felt a little disappointed that I did not feel anything special. But just because I didn’t feel anything different, it doesn’t mean that something special didn’t happen. For example, just because we didn’t feel anything different when we celebrated a birthday milestone, like our 5th or 13th or 21st or 50th, it doesn’t mean something special didn’t happen. In fact, as I grow in age, I’m coming to a greater appreciation of the gift of the Holy Spirit that I received in my teens. So often in life, we have to face some difficult decisions. My earliest struggle was to choose the direction of my life in College. What to major in? Which direction to take in life, to stay with a certain field of studies or to choose a different one? As I took these questions to God, I found that the Holy Spirit speaks through the ordinariness of human events and life. It is the guidance from family, school counselors, friends and the still voice inside that helped me to find my way. The prophet Elijah, when he was looking for God’s guidance, he didn’t find it in the strong and violent wind, nor in the earthquake or fire, but in a “light silent sound” (1 Kings 19:11-12).
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) teaches us that God speaks to us in the depths of our hearts, through our conscience: “Deep within his conscience man discovers a law which he has not laid upon himself but which he must obey. Its voice, ever calling him to love and to do what is good and to avoid evil, sounds in his heart at the right moment.... For man has in his heart a law inscribed by God.... His conscience is man’s most secret core and his sanctuary. There he is alone with God whose voice echoes in his depths” (CCC #1776). So although at my Confirmation I didn’t experience anything extraordinary, but very subtly, I’ve grown to open my heart to learn to listen to the small quiet voice inside of me. As one person beautifully summarized the difference between praying and meditating, praying he said is us talking to God. Meditating is learning to listen to God. As we learn to listen to that still small voice of God’s Spirit calling out to us and obey it, our lives will be richly blessed. And so my prayer for all of us and for our teens in particular, is that as they prepare for the Sacrament of Confirmation, they may learn to listen and obey God’s Spirit, who desires to lead them to the fullness of life. Congratulations 8th graders. Choosing to follow and serve God is the best choice I’ve ever made in life and I’m sure it will be the same for you and for all of us.
With prayers and blessings,
Fr. Dan
Fr. Dan
