Tonight at Holy Family, I had the great joy of seeing sixty-seven Grade 8 kids and three adults receive the Sacrament of Confirmation from Bishop Richard Grecco. About fifty of the students attend Holy Family Catholic School and have been coming to the church on Sundays for classes, one of which I taught this year. Most of the rest attend either the nearby Mary, Mother of God School, which is private, or St Vincent's school, and there are a few home-schooled kids.
The church was packed, with standing room only. White-robed confirmands filled the first several pews on both sides, and behind them sat their sponsors. Bishop Grecco, dressed in red vestments and accompanied by priests and altar boys, processed in as we sang, "Sing we triumphant hymns of praise."
His Excellency's homily repeated three main points:
- None of you deserve the gift of the Holy Spirit, which God gives to you just because he loves you perfectly, but like a football player at training camp, by getting in good spiritual shape you can prepare to receive it well.
- The gift of the Holy Spirit is invisible and immaterial but still very real and important and, just like you, everlasting.
- The gift of the Holy Spirit changes your identity so that you can witness for Christ in good times and especially in tough times.
Confirmands and sponsors had been asked to arrive half an hour before Mass began, which didn't completely eliminate the predictable cat-herding difficulties. I ended up serving as one boy's sponsor when the man who was supposed to do it didn't show up behind him at the altar rail at the appointed moment.
His Excellency regrettably kept interrupting the solemnity of the series of Confirmations by introducing non-liturgical language. Please, Your Excellency, just say the black.
B: N, be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit.
C: Amen.
B: The Lord be with you, N.
C: And also with you.
B: Thank you.
And when the "Through him, with him, in him" left out "almighty Father" before "forever and ever," there was a tiny moment of confusion and hesitation. Is he done? Okay, I guess we just sing, "Amen"--as indeed we did.
Well, at least no one said in the middle of the Mass, "Have a nice day."
Overall, though, the Mass was truly wonderful. I was so proud of my kids. It's true, they don't deserve the gift--none of us do. But they've learned a lot about the Catholic faith this year. They've more or less memorized the Nicene Creed and studied what each part of it means. Most have heard from the Marguerite Bourgeoys Family Centre what's wrong with what the world says about sex and why what the Church teaches about chastity is so much better. They've witnessed publicly to the sanctity of human life from the moment of conception onwards. They've each made a brief presentation--all right, downright skimpy in some cases, but Rome wasn't built in a day--on the life of a saint. Three days from now they'll join in the annual Marian procession through our corner of Parkdale. They've been attending Mass each Sunday. We've prayed together. No one was whacked with a ruler, even if I was occasionally tempted.
While I wish most of them had gotten a more solid grounding from eight years in the Catholic school system--I heard about one muddled teacher who has told them you can be Catholic and Buddhist at the same time--all we can do is meet them where they are and lead them a little further into the mysteries of the faith.
This evening they each received a priceless treasure. And thanks be to God for that.
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