Confirmation classes recently started here at the parish, and as I reflect on the beginning of this journey, I can’t help but be reminded that we are never alone. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us,
“by the sacrament of Confirmation, [the baptized] are more perfectly bound to the Church and are enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit. Hence they are, as true witnesses of Christ, more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith by word and deed.”
We even see in this definition that we are bound closer to the Church, both locally and globally, here on earth and in heaven; and we are given strength by the Holy Spirit. We are not alone! (Click on this link.)
We also ask each person seeking the sacrament of Confirmation to walk this journey with a sponsor and to pick a Confirmation name after a saint. Both of these choices are tangible ways to make sure that the Confirmand is connected to the universal Church, and to help them feel they are not alone. The sponsor we choose is someone who is already confirmed, someone who is living out their faith every day.
We choose a saint’s name to remind us that it is possible to seek holiness, other human beings did it, and that means we can do it too. That saint is someone who we then run towards and ask for their prayers for us from Heaven. Someone once encouraged me to have 5 “go to” saints, to ask for their intercession. I challenge all of us to find those saints that we can go to when we need prayers. The saints made it to eternal life, and look forward to us joining them!