Confirmation October 15, 2011 Supplemental Materials

Sometimes we think that being a witness to Christ means that we have to become a priest or nun or spend our whole day in a Church.  This is not what Christ meant.  He wants us to go out into the world to live the life He is calling us to. This could be a religious vocation. But Christ also needs lay men and women in every field proclaiming the Good News. You can even do it in the NFL. Check out this awesome interview with Philip Rivers, Quarterback of the San Diego Chargers who is living his Catholic Faith as an NFL player.

Maybe the Lord is calling some of you to the priesthood or religious life. Here is an awesome video (in two parts) that shows the amazing vocation to the priesthood.

                              

There is a wonderful religious order for women in Ann Arbor: The Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist.

Confirmation October 15, 2011: Images of the Holy Spirit

Opening Prayer:

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of  your faithful, enkindle in us the fire of your love, send forth your Spirit and we shall be created and you shall renew the face of the earth.

What is the Trinity? 3 persons, 1 God.  The three persons of the Trinity are:

1st Person: The Father

2nd Person: The Son (who took on flesh and was born into the world as Jesus)

3rd Person: The Holy Spirit.

What images do each bring to mind? What do you think of?

Sometimes it is easier to relate to the Father or to Jesus because of how we think of them. The Holy Spirit can be more difficult to relate to because the images that are used. A tongue of fire or a dove are a little harder to think of having a relationship with. So let's dig a little deeper about what the Holy Spirit's role in our life should be. 

One of the titles of the Holy Spirit that He is referred to in the Scripture is: the Paraclete. It is actually a  legal term in Greek that means something like a defense attorney. We have an accuser – the devil and we also have an advocate - the Holy Spirit. But, the term Paraclete also means something like “The One who answers the cry” What are we crying out for? 

First cry: I am longing to be loved – deepest desire within all of us.  None of us wants to be alone. 

"And I tell you, ask and you will receive, seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.  What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? if you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?" Luke 11:9-13  

What God most wants to give is Himself. God is love and we receive that in the Holy Spirit.  God’s love has been poured into our hearts at Baptism. He may be dormant, but He is there to convince you that you are loved. God knows all the things we don’t want everyone else to know – our thoughts, actions etc and still loves me. He is calling us on to greater freedom, life and holiness.

If the cross really happened, if this happened for me, I need to not know that intellectually, but I need to experience that. That is what the Holy Spirit wants to do. He wants me to know in the depth of my being, that THAT happened for me.

"For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, 'Abba, Father!' The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him." Romans 8:15-17  

What fear is Paul alluding to? Fear about God? The HolySpirit is there to convince you God is not the enemy.  He is a loving merciful Father. He is also just, but loving and merciful. The fear we often experience is that God doesn’t care or that He might not even be there. The other fear is that I am all alone or that I am damaged goods. You might hear "The Holy Spirit is poured into our hearts…" but you think, "I’m damaged goods. You don’t know what I’VE done." Remember: there is no saint, except Mary who has lived without a past, and there is no sinner, no matter what they've, without a future. Three of the greatest people in the Bible, Moses, David and Paul, were all murderers. No matter what we've done, if we repent we can become the greatest of Saints.

The Holy Spirit brings us to know the Father. He makes it possible to call our Abba! Father! He brings us to relationship with the Father and so to be children of God, precious in His sight.  You don’t blend into the crowd.  He knows you and me.

The second cry the Spirit answers is: "I’m not who I want to be…I’m not yet who I want to be and it is my fault. I can’t blame anyone else."  The bad news is it is my fault, but the good news is that it is my fault…I CAN be who I want to be with God’s grace. The Spirit respond to this cry and gives us the ability to live the life Christ calls us to. We are given the ability to do the impossible and love like God. 

"But you will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8 

The word translated here "power" is originally "dynamos" in Greek.  This is the same word from which we get dynamite. The Holy Spirit should be like a spiritual dynamite in our lives.  These poor mostly uneducated men, changed the world. There has never been anything that has changed the world more than what Jesus did. There is more art, more buildings, films, laws etc that are based on what Christ did than any other thing. It was what these early Christians did spreading the Good News of Jesus that transformed the world. 

You too are called to be a witness to the world with the help of the Holy Spirit. To be a witness means to give evidence – if you were on trial for being a follower of Jesus, would there be enough evidence to convict you?

Closing Prayer:

Candidate: Holy Spirit, I invite you into my life. Help me to become the person you want me to be. I give you permission to be active in my life.

Parent and/or sponsor (lay a hand on the candidates head or shoulder): Come Holy Spirit. Fill the heart of _______________ as he/she prepares to receive you in the Sacrament of Confirmation. Stir into a flame the fire of your love to transform him/her as he/she shines your light before men.  I commend ____________________ to you as he/she spends the next weeks preparing to receive the sacrament of Confirmation.  I pledge to be a mentor and guide as we journey together toward our goal.  I pray this all through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Confirmation October 8, 2011 Supplemental Materials

"Even though you are your, the time for action is now! It is time to let your light shine! Remember, Christ is calling you; the Church needs you; the Pope believes in you, and he expects great things of you!" Pope John Paul II

We talked a lot about the Gospels at our first session and how the Gospels show us different aspects of Jesus' life. I challenge you to read from the Gospels during this time of preparation and come to know Jesus more intimately as you prepare to receive Confirmation.

The Bible: Where do I start? by Mark Hart.  A great intro on some practical tips on reading the Bible!

Mark is the shortest of all the Gospels so it is a good place to start if you are new to reading the Scriptures or you can take little snippets and read the daily Mass readings.

For a fun overview of the whole Bible story, check out this video!

 At our first session we saw a video that showed how the Mass is the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross made present to us. Being at Mass, receiving the Body and Blood of Jesus in the Mass is another way that we grow in our relationship with Jesus. What is happening at Mass or the benefits of the Mass are sometimes easy to forget.

It is also easy to forget that the Eucharist is truly the Flesh and Blood of Jesus, but from time to time, God lifts the veil of this mystery and shows us the reality to strengthen our faith. The Church approved Eucharistic Miracle at Lanciano, Italy is one of those instances. There has been scientific studies done on this miracle. Look at the results here and an interview with one of the scientists!

Eucharistic miracles still happen in our time. In 1991, at a Mass in Betania, Venezuela, where appartions of the Blessed Virgin (approved by the local bishop) were occurring, a Eucharistic Miracle took place where a host began to bleed. This host is now kept in a chapel where people can come and pray. From time to time it still bleeds and on one occasion in 1998, it was caught on video bleeding and beating like a heart.

Immerse yourself in the Scriptures and the Mass and you will be amazed how your relationship with Jesus grows!

Confirmation October 8, 2011: Gospel Images of Jesus

My name is Chellsy and I am one of the presenters at the Confirmation preparation sessions at St. Anthony. For those of you who were not able to join us for the first session, I hope that you will use this resource with your parent and/or sponsor to review what we discussed. I look forward to meeting all of you.

Let's begin with a prayer:


In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Lord Jesus, thank you for bringing us together today to spend time learning more about you. Help us to do your will and give glory to you. Draw us deeper into your Sacred Heart and let us come to a fuller understanding of your unending love for us.  We ask all these things through Christ Our Lord.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

I want to challenge you to answer the question: Why am I coming to Confirmation preparation?

I want you to be honest. You must honestly assess where you are if you want to be able to get somewhere in this process. Is it just because your parents told you to? Is it just what was on your calendar so you are going? Do you have a desire to learn more about your faith? Do you want to receive Confirmation?

I am here not to teach you information (although I hope you will learn some). I am not here to talk about stuff. I am here because I know a Person. I am here because of a relationship that has changed my life and I want to share that with you.

To have any kind of relationship you must get to know the person, spend time with them, talk to them, listen to what they have to say etc. We all know this from our human experience.  The same applies in our relationship with God. How do we come to know more about Jesus? One of the primary ways is through the Gospels.

The Gospels are the first four books of the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  Why do we have four different books to tell us the story of Jesus' life? They all give us a different perspective. They were written by different men, with different purposes and audiences in mind so they focus on different aspects of Jesus' life.

St. Matthew

Matthew was one of the 12 Apostles. He was a Jew and writing primarily to a Jewish audience who were Christian converts but were arguing among themselves about if they still had to practice the laws of the Old Covenant. Matthew begins his Gospel with the genealogy of Jesus. Why? To his Jewish audience, it was very important to know that Jesus came from the line of David because that was what the prophecy of the Messiah said would happen. Matthew focuses a lot on Jesus' heritage and his teachings. He shows how Jesus fulfilled the Old Covenant.

St. Mark

Mark was not one of the 12 Apostles. His Gospel was actually the first written of the four in chronological time. Mark was writing to a group of mostly new non-Jewish Christians who were being persecuted for their faith. He focuses on the "Good News" about Jesus - his actions and death that brought about our salvation. He was trying to encourage his audience as they went through this very difficult time.

St. Luke

Luke never met Jesus when He was alive. Luke was a companion of Paul. Luke was an educated Greek man. He was a physician, artist and historian. He was writing to a group of wealthy Christians who lived in the city who were becoming complacent in their faith. He really focuses on giving an orderly account of Jesus' life from things that happened before he was born, all through His life. He was trying to draw his audience back to the practice of their faith by giving them a secure knowledge of what happened in Jesus' life. We hear a lot from Luke's Gospel at Christmas because he tells us what happened. His Gospel challenges his audience to live their faith more fully.

St. John

John's Gospel is different from the other three. John was the youngest of the 12 Apostles and he is often called the beloved disciple. John and Jesus were very close and John was the only one of the 12 that did not abandon Jesus when he was crucified. John stood at the foot of the cross with Mary and Jesus gave his mother into John's care. John focuses a lot on the signs and miracles of Jesus. He is writing to give strength to Jewish Christians who were being ostracized by other Jews so he focused a lot on the signs and wonders that Jesus performed. Jesus performed miracles to strengthen faith and give glory to God and John highlights this.

All of the Gospels give us a different perspective and focus on different things, but they all tell the same story: Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into the world, suffered, died and rose from the dead so that we could be in relationship with him.

We have to make a decision about who Jesus is. Some people will say that Jesus was a good moral teacher or a prophet. These are not the options we have. Jesus claimed to be God. A good person would not claim to be God if He wasn't. Our three options are:
1) He is the Lord;
2) He was the world's best liar;
3) He was a lunatic and thought He was God.

The best evidence we have that Jesus really is the Lord is that all but 1 of the 12 Apostles were killed for believing in Jesus. If they knew it was a lie or even for a second doubted that Jesus was not who he said he was, don't you think that one of them would have confessed when faced with death? Maybe before they crucified Peter upside down or when the knife touched Bartholomew's skin as they were about to skin him alive they would have changed their story - but they didn't. These men were willing to die for what they believed.

At the core is that Jesus died for you and me so that we can be in relationship with him. As Catholics we believe that Jesus made one sacrifice for us all but that at every Mass, that one sacrifice is made present to us. When we are at Mass it is as if we stand and the foot of the cross at that very moment of sacrifice.

Reflect on this video:

As Jesus asked His Apostles 2000 years ago, He now asks you: "Who do you say that I am?" Mt. 16:15 Who do you say Jesus is? Lord, Liar or Lunatic?