Tonight we had two wonderful celebrations of Confirmation with Archbishop Donald Reece of Kingston, Jamaica. We were delighted to have the Archbishop celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation within the context of Mass, which is the best way to celebrate the sacrament.
For many years, I've been trying to teach our young people about the intimate connection between Confirmation and Eucharist and Baptism, the three sacraments of initiation. It's very tough trying to teach our young people the importance of celebrating the Eucharist on a regular basis, when our culture seems to be increasingly dismissive of regular religious practice.
Archbishop Reece urged the young people to bring more light into this world, which seems to be growing more DIM with the Light of Christ. He referred to the Opening Rites of the Easter Vigil, and asked the confirmandi about them. Truth be told, only a handful of the young people had ever been to an Easter Vigil Mass....but a few of them, mostly altar servers....they got the Archbishop's references to the "power" of the "light shining in the darkness."
His Grace urged the confirmandi to be (D)isciples who are (I)ntimately involved with Jesus, who urges us to be (M)issionaries of His Good News!
We are rejoicing in the grace that the Archbishop revealed in these wonderful celebrations, and his beautiful message of encouragement to our young people to be faithful, and regular disciples who are weekly nourished at the Lord's table.
We welcome our young brothers and sisters, and we rejoice with them as they join us on the journey as fellow disciples. We pray that they will help us to continue the work of the Lord Jesus, and to further the universal mission of the Church to spread the Good News that Jesus is Lord!
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