This Wed., Dec. 2, we will
celebrate here at St Austin Parish the Sacrament of Confirmation. We are
hosting Bishop Danny Garcia here to celebrate this wonderful Sacrament with
about 30 of our parish’s high-school youth, about 30 young adults from the
University Catholic Center, and a couple of others. So it will be a celebration
of abundant grace. Please keep all the confirmandi,
that is, those being confirmed, in your prayers.
Please note that I did NOT say
please keep those who are confirming
their faith (active voice) but rather those being
confirmed (passive voice). Unfortunately this is frequently misunderstood.
When you make a reservation for a
plane flight, or a hotel booking, or a rental car, you usually receive a long
string of letters and numbers called a “confirmation” number. The confirmation
in this case is like a guarantee. It proves you made the reservation. It is a
promise of future service or goods. Similarly, in the Sacrament of Confirmation
there is a promise or guarantee of future performance.
There is, to be sure, a promise
made on the part of the one being confirmed, namely, to live more fully the
life of faith of an adult and responsible Catholic. But this is greatly
overshadowed by another and much more important confirmation or guarantee: the
one made by God. God confirms, or re-affirms, God’s choice of the person as
God’s adopted and beloved son or daughter. God made this original choice at the
person’s Baptism. In the Sacrament of Confirmation God “confirms” that choice. This
is made clear in the formula of the Sacrament: “Be sealed with the Gift of the
Holy Spirit.”
It is not what we do, but what is
done to us, that is important. This is why in some cultures (Spanish) children
are often confirmed as babies at their Baptism. The Orthodox churches also
confirm infants. Some Catholic dioceses (such as San Angelo,Texas) also confirm
children BEFORE they make their First Holy Communion.
I think this would be a good
practice for us to follow. It would make clear that the Sacrament is not a
merit badge you earn by doing a certain number of service projects, going to a
certain number of classes, learning certain things, memorizing certain passages
from the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
etc. Rather the Sacrament is grace, which means “free.” God pours His grace on
the confirmandi, even though there is
no way they could ever earn or be worthy enough to receive it.
It seems fitting and appropriate
that we celebrate this Sacrament in the First Week of Advent, at the beginning
of the new liturgical year, a time of new beginnings and new grace. I regret
that I am not able to be here for this celebration, as I will be in a meeting
in New York City Tuesday through Thursday of this week. But all of the confirmandi, their sponsors and their
parents will be in my prayers. I hope that they will be in yours as well.
God bless!
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