At
our Baptism, the Holy Spirit was given to each of us to free us from sin, make
us sons and daughters of God and to give us new life in Christ. In
Confirmation, our hearts are imprinted with a permanent seal that marks us
forever as Christians and we are given the strength and gifts needed to be true
witnesses of Jesus Christ. Jesus promised his disciples and all of us that
the Holy Spirit would be sent forth from the Father to be our Helper and Guide,
so that we would not be alone in our journey.
When
we open our hearts to the Holy Spirit, we allow the gifts of wisdom,
understanding, right judgment, courage, knowledge, reverence and wonder and awe
in God’s presence to fill our hearts.
The
Holy Spirit then dwells within us to give us wisdom to know where God is
leading us, understanding to know how to use our gifts to help others, right
judgment so that we can always choose what is good, courage so that we may have
strength to live out our faith, knowledge that we may truly know God in our
lives, reverence so that we may respect and honor all that comes from God, and
wonder and awe so that we may always recognize the greatness of God and all
that He has done for us.
Strengthened
by these gifts we can fulfill our potential as sons and daughters of God
and to act as witnesses of Christ. As our Helper and Guide, the Holy
Spirit guides us to the Way that Jesus calls us to, helps us to recognize the
Truth of Christ in a world that can be confusing, and leads us in the right
direction so that we may have Life and have it more abundantly.
This past weekend in our parish, we will be witnesses to the presence of the Holy
Spirit who will fill the hearts of 42 young people and 9 adults in the
Sacrament of Confirmation.
As
we celebrate with them let us pray:
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful
and kindle in them the fire of your love.
