Dear Parishioners,
Confirmation: On Saturday, September 26th, Fr. Tony welcomed the RCIA candidates into full communion with the Catholic Church, a rite that includes Confirmation. This past Tuesday, we were grateful to have Bishop Peter Muhich confirm many of our high school students. It is a great joy to have so many of our brothers and sisters confirmed, yet what happens when one is confirmed?
While other Christian denominations have confirmation ceremonies, Confirmation for Catholics is a sacrament. Sacraments are, as the Catechism says, efficacious signs instituted by Christ to give Grace (CCC, 1131). The sacraments are the primordial ways Christ gives us to encounter him, the Source and Summit of which is the Eucharist. Nonetheless, Confirmation holds a prominence as it confirms and strengthens grace revived in Baptism (CCC, 1289); particularly, the Holy Spirit, comes into the confirmed person in a personal and intimate way. This is not to say that Baptism does not bestow the fulness of the Holy Spirit, quite the contrary. Analogously speaking, Baptism is like a cup filled to the brim with the presence of the Holy Spirit. The “confirming” and “strengthening” of Confirmation takes this full cup and overfills it, so that it can fill other cups around it.
Thus, Confirmation instills a sense of mission, which presupposes we choose to live for Jesus and his Church. Were we to receive the sacrament of Confirmation without either of these resolves, we lie to Jesus and his Church. We would not enter into Marriage with the intention to be unfaithful to our spouse; in the same way, we should be Confirmed with the intention to be faithful to God. The example of our courageous brothers and sisters who chose Confirmation inspires us to live for Christ and his bride, the Church.
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth.
Welcome Bridget! Please join Fr. Tony and me in welcoming Bridget Leighton to the Cathedral staff. Bridget will be working part-time in the office in reception, maintaining parishioner records, and managing the Cathedral’s sacramental records. We are delighted to have Bridget on board.
-Fr. Matt