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Confirmation Homily 2007 My dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ: We have come together in faith today to celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation. Therefore, I wish to congratulate you, the candidates, who are about to be confirmed. I will speak to you much more but first I wish to say a few words to this congregation and especially to your parents and your sponsors. Parents – Your role as parents is so underplayed in society today. You have been called by God and by each other to bring new life into the world. While it is God Who creates human beings, He does so according to a plan. He instills human life only through the cooperation of a man and a woman. This man and this woman who are co-creators with God are rightly called “father and mother.” Truly, you, as human father or human mother, do indeed give life to your child but only by the grace and the power of God. God creates human beings so that we can come to know, to love and to serve Him and someday to be happy with Him forever in heaven. Parents, as co-workers with God in bringing children into existence, you must also follow the plan of God to lead them to heaven. For this reason, the Church reminds you that you are the first teachers of your children in the way of faith. You began well by having them re-born in baptism. You introduced them to God when you first taught them to pray. You continue to bring them back to God by teaching them and seeing that they attend religious instructions. You must continue to correct them, to challenge them and to inspire them to live good and holy lives. Your role as parents is not successfully completed until your children stand with you before God to enter eternal life in heaven. Sponsors (godparents) – Your role is much more than a ceremonial action. You have been chosen and you have agreed to serve as a guide and to give good example to your godchild. Therefore, you must witness to the truth. This means that you must be a believer in God and you must live and practice the Catholic faith. Your example, your witness, your inspiration will be genuine and effective only if you live the fullness of our Catholic faith. Along with your enthusiastic example sponsors, sometimes words and corrections and encouragement must also be given to your god-child. Basically, you share with their parents that serious responsibility to help them attain eternal life in heaven. It is not always easy to be good sponsors but the final rewards are great in heaven. Candidates – I come back now to address you further. I have already congratulated you for responding to God’s call. Now I must challenge you to the full practice of our Catholic faith. Our Catholic faith is a gift from God. God gives us the ability to recognize Jesus and to believe in Him and to accept all that He has revealed to us. God does not force the gift of faith upon us. Rather, He freely offers, then waits for our loving and free response. Confirmation is a sacrament instituted by Christ. It is administered by me as your Archbishop through the imposition of hands and the anointing with the Holy Oil called the Sacred Chrism. In that way, you are then specially sealed or marked by God with His Holy Spirit and the Spirit’s accompanying spiritual gifts for life. My dear candidates for Confirmation, you are no longer little children. You are growing up. You are now young adults. Unlike little children who cannot yet think logically or judge critically, you are beginning to recognize that when you make good choices, you get good results. Likewise, when you make bad choices, you get bad results! When you listen to Jesus – Who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, you always make a good choice. When you disobey Jesus, it is always a bad choice. This is exactly what sin is. Sin is disobedience to Jesus. It is turning away from Him. It is a rejection of God’s plan. Sin is always evil and always affects us negatively. Sin brings us misery and unhappiness. God, on the other hand, offers us peace and joy and love and life everlasting. Tonight, in a very special way, God blesses all of us as He gifts you, candidates, with the fullness of His Holy Spirit. God loves you and knows how much you need Him. Therefore, He promises “I will send My Holy Spirit upon you and I will be with you always!” In the days and weeks and years ahead, you will have many challenges and many opportunities. In fact, already in your young lives, you have heard of, or remember, tragic events that resulted from bad choices and sinful actions. Twelve years ago, the bombing of the Murrah building in downtown Oklahoma City resulted in death and destruction for many of your neighbors or family friends. The various sporadic outbreaks of violence and other acts of hatred culminated this past week in the tragic shooting at Virginia Tech which brought death to 32 people and unspeakable suffering and fear for many more. All of these tragedies were the result of someone making bad choices, someone sinning, someone turning away from the beautiful plan that God had outlined for us. Dear Candidates for Confirmation, it is true that in the days and weeks and years ahead, you will have many challenges and many opportunities. You will encounter difficulties and trials. At all times, think back to tonight. Tonight, Jesus, Who is our Lord and Savior, is marking you, sealing you as one of His own chosen persons. He sends His Holy Spirit to accompany you, to assist you, to inspire you. Listen to Him. Love Him and follow Him with the assurance of faith. Tonight, through the imposition of hands and through the anointing with the Sacred Chrism, each of you will be gifted with the Holy Spirit. God Himself seals you as His own special person, calling you to live a good and holy life. The anointing is done with the Sacred Chrism in the form of a cross traced over your forehead. The cross is made as a visible expression of the everlasting sign of our salvation. Jesus came to save us from sin. Jesus came to bring us new life. He came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. The sign of the cross I make over you should never be forgotten. It is your perpetual commitment to the Lord because the cross is Jesus’ sign of His perpetual love for you. Therefore, my dear candidates, I want you always to keep this in mind. I want you to remember the cross on which Jesus died for you. Tonight I hold up before you the Cross of Jesus. This little cross has the Image of Jesus nailed to it so it is rightly called a crucifix. Tonight, after the Communion of this Mass, I will bless these crucifixes here before the altar and I will present one to each of you who will have been confirmed. Take this blessed crucifix home with you. Take it wherever you go in life. Look at it gratefully and learn to live by the cross as Jesus said: “Take up the Cross and follow Me.” Candidates, the Lord Jesus loves you totally. He offers you His many gifts and graces and blessings through the Holy Catholic Church which He established for our salvation. Your Catholic faith began at baptism. Most of you were baptized as little babies. Your parents or godparents made a Profession of Faith for you. They did so because you were too small and incapable of doing it yourself. Tonight, however, you are no longer little babies. You are young adults. Therefore, before I confirm you, you must personally renew the Profession of Faith which was once made for you. Therefore, candidates and only candidates, please stand. Most
Reverend Eusebius J. Beltran |