Many times at Confirmation Masses, I have seen bishops ask the Confirmandi questions, so I want to start by asking all of you a question. Don’t worry, it’s not a difficult one! All of you have seen pictures of the saints. What does a saint look like?
I think it is easy to distance ourselves from the saints–they lived a long time ago, they were all older, they had halos, they wore habits and priestly clothes. And this is true for some of the saints. God is calling priests and religious brothers and sisters to be saints. But He is also calling each of you, right now, to be saints. To see what a saint looks like, all you have to do is look in the mirror! YOU are called to be a saint, to live a life in God’s grace right now! I look out tonight and I see people who are capable of sainthood.
Many people in the church like to say that children are the “future of the church.” But when I look at all of you, I don’t see the future of the church, I see the present of the church! You are called to be holy right now, to strive to be a saint in your life even as a young person! You all have a key role in the Body of Christ right now and God is giving you everything you need to live it out.
The first reading reminds you of how you have already been empowered by God. Even now, before Confirmation, you already have the Holy Spirit dwelling within you through your Baptism! God says to you through the prophet Ezekiel: “I will sprinkle clean water over you to make you clean; from all your impurities and from all your idols I will cleanse you. I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you so that you walk in my statutes, observe my ordinances, and keep them.” Through your Baptism, Jesus has cleansed your heart and made it new again. He has given you grace beyond measure to be able to live as a beloved son, a beloved daughter of God. He has replaced your stony heart with a heart of flesh–one filled with God’s grace. That is powerful!
But God doesn’t stop there. He is so generous that He doesn’t just work in our hearts to cleanse us from sin and make us His own children. Through us, He wants to expand His family. He wants more and more others to come to know the new life we all share because of Jesus. He wants to empower us for mission! This is what we’re all about tonight–to anoint each of you with that power of the Holy Spirit to strengthen you for mission. Tonight, the words of St. Paul from the second reading are for each of one of you: “I, then, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace.” You will all share in this “unity of the Spirit” in a new way tonight as we do what the Church has done for thousands of years: lay hands on you and anoint you with oil, so that through these outward signs, inwardly your hearts can be set on fire with the gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, knowledge, counsel, fortitude, understanding, piety and fear of the Lord. These will empower you to be on mission right now! You don’t have to wait till some later date to be a powerful force in the Church. Tonight the Holy Spirit is empowering you to change the world right where you are!
Think about St. Joan of Arc. She didn’t wait to let God move powerfully in her life as an adult. At 16, she led the armies of France without even carrying a weapon. Grown soldiers were terrified of her! Before she was burned at the stake at the age of 19, she said, “Hold the cross high so I may see it through the flames!” She lived in the power of the Holy Spirit! St. Dominic Savio was only fourteen when he passed away, but before this he lived a remarkable life. When he was 11, he was falsely accused of some mischief that one of his troublemaking classmates had done. He allowed the teacher to severely scold him in front of the whole class and didn’t say a word. Later, when the truth came out that Dominic was innocent, his teacher asked him why he didn’t speak up. He said: “I knew that the other boy was in trouble for other things. I remembered how Our Lord had been unjustly accused, and I hoped that if I kept silent he would be given another chance.” Those are the words of a boy filled with the Holy Spirit! Blessed Carlo Acuti also died at a young age, at 15, but spent his short life doing good. He is a recent saint, and used his talents with website design to make a website all about the miracles that have happened with the Eucharist throughout the history of the Church. Next month, here at Sacred Heart we will have an exhibit about the Eucharistic Miracles that is based on his website! The Holy Spirit worked powerfully through him and continues to right now. Think about that, a kid who only lived to be 15, who died in 2006, is now officially recognized as ‘Blessed.’ Right now, Blessed Carlo is here with us. Even as we speak, He is in Heaven praying for you that the Holy Spirit would work through you like He worked through him!
And there are so many other examples of saints who strove for holiness as children–St. Therese of Lisieux, St. José Luis Sánchez del Rio, St. Tarcisius, St. Maria Goretti, St. Cecilia, St. Kizito, and more–none of them waited to start living holy lives, they powerfully let God work through them in their youth.
This is my prayer for all of you, that you would embrace that fire of the Holy Spirit in your own lives, that you would allow God to strengthen you for mission. Each of you can be like the seed that fell on rich ground in the Gospel reading. If you welcome the Holy Spirit, He can bear so much fruit in your life! And this doesn’t have to be in big showy ways. God works miracles in people’s lives when you do seemingly small things with great love, even though you may not see it. You can be that person who forgives somebody when they have wronged you, by the power of the Holy Spirit in you. You can be that person who invites your friend to youth group where they encounter God, by the power of the Holy Spirit in you. You can be that person who stands up for those whom others look down on or ridicule, by the power of the Holy Spirit in you. You can be that person who notices someone’s pain and offers to pray with them in that moment, by the power of the Holy Spirit in you. God wants to do great things through you! You are being given the power to live extraordinary lives tonight. You don’t have to become someone else. God has made you for greatness by giving you the gifts of the Holy Spirit in your uniqueness. Make a habit every day of saying the prayer, veni Sancte Spiritus, which means ‘Come, Holy Spirit.’ I know that God can and will work through you!
Finally, I want to give you advice on how to continue to live in the graces you receive tonight, because as we talked about before, this Sacrament is not an endpoint, but a new beginning. Here are four practical things that will help you continue to have an open heart to the Holy Spirit:
Prayer – Take some time to talk to God every day. In the morning talk to Him about the coming day, lift up your family and friends and ask Him for help in your struggles. As time goes on, look for more opportunities to stop and lift up your heart to Him throughout the day.
Community – None of us can live the Christian life on our own. We are individually members of one body and are meant to strengthen each other. Come to youth group, go to camps, conferences and retreats. Build friendships with those sitting around you right now so that you can run the race of faith together!
Scripture – Spend at least ten minutes every day in God’s Word. We have special cards for you that describe a process called lectio divina, which is Latin for ‘holy reading.’ This process gives you a simple way to listen for God speaking to you through the Bible.
Sacraments – Now that you have received Confirmation, you are on a mission, but you will not be able to sustain that mission unless you continue to be nourished by God himself. Come every Sunday to be fed with Jesus Himself in the Eucharist. The Eucharist is our nourishment for mission! And when you find yourself veering from God’s mission for you, come to Confession to receive God’s abundant forgiveness and to be strengthened once again!
With these four things: prayer, community, Scripture and Sacraments, God will help you to continue living in the power of the Holy Spirit. I am praying for you!
+Father, thank you for giving us our mission through the Son and the Holy Spirit. Jesus, help us to trust you to do great things in our lives through the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. Holy Spirit, thank you for the gifts you will pour out on these young people tonight. Help them to sense your presence tonight and be on mission through your power in them! We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen. +