By Annie-Rose Keith
Connecting Faith and Life
Friends, the time has come. School is upon us and the hustle and bustle of new transitions, new adventures and new chapters looms delightfully over hurried heads of families everywhere. Minivans are stuffed to the gills with sports bags, dirty cleats, swim caps, running shoes, broken water bottles and the stray stale french fry from dinners eaten quickly on the way to practice.
If you have an incoming 10th grader, I humbly submit the following:
Please do not forget about Confirmation as registrations for classes for this amazing sacrament have started or will be starting soon.
Here’s why:
- Confirmation is the sports drink for the promises parents make at their child’s baptism. Your parents had you baptized in the Catholic Faith because faith is something that is passed on from generation to generation. Your parents made the choice to have you baptized to get rid of original sin and to start your relationship with Christ. Your soul changed permanently and you were filled with grace from God. Through Confirmation, the Holy Spirit strengthens these graces, gives you more of them, and seals them all inside of your soul. This brings you closer to Christ!
- Confirmation boosts those gifts of the Holy Spirit given to you at your baptism. This is what is sealed inside of your soul, your heart, your mind when you’re confirmed in our Catholic faith. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are gifts given from God to help build his kingdom here on earth, which is what we’re called to do as missionary disciples. These gifts are wisdom, understanding, knowledge, fortitude, piety, counsel and fear of the Lord. You’ve had these gifts since your baptism, but Confirmation deepens and strengthens them since it draws you even closer to Christ and the greater Catholic Community.
- You’re accepting a mission from God by receiving this sacrament. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells His disciples to baptize all nations in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Later on, the Holy Spirit descends upon the disciples at Pentecost and they receive the courage to take on the mission Jesus gave them earlier. Confirmation is your own personal Pentecost. The Holy Spirit descends upon you and you accept the same challenge given by Jesus to the disciples.
- Your forehead is going to smell GREAT. Chrism is not just a lovely smelling oil the Bishop smears on your forehead. It is the perfumed oil that the bishop uses to make the sign of the cross on your forehead. It helps show your connection to your Baptism — the first time you were anointed with oil. It shows healing and cleansing too. Believe it or not, it also signifies preparation to do spiritual battle with the devil. Why? Because in ancient times, warriors would cover themselves in whatever oil they had to make it difficult for their enemies to grab them. St. Thomas Aquinas explains that your forehead … is a part of your face. The first thing people see when they talk to you … is your face. The church can be so delightfully black and white and at the same time so frustratingly black and white. Having Chrism on your forehead proclaims to the world that the first thing people should notice about you is your faith in Christ.
Your 10th grader is about to step out in faith. Taking this faith as their own.
They’re also getting older. They’re going to go away to other adventures in a few years. Your faith may wander and their faith may wonder. I’m here to tell you that that’s the one thing that the world can’t take away from you. Your faith. It can take your house, it can take your job, your car, your health — faith is the one thing that can’t be taken away. You can lose your faith, but you can always find it again. That’s the beauty of the Sacrament of Confirmation.