Confirmation

I guess I didn’t do a very good job of keeping up with my Confirmation Prep Series. I didn’t write a thing about my daughter’s Christian Service hours.  How she signed up to help out at the infant care center of our local crisis pregnancy center to get her 20 required hours.  Or about how she fell in love with the babies there and could not give up her volunteering even after she met the 20 hour requirement, and even now, more than 3 months after she surpassed 20 hours, she still looks forward in great anticipation to the few hours a week she gets to go play with those precious babies whose mothers chose life even in the darkest of circumstances.

I didn’t write about the service project she did with the other Confirmation candidates at our parish- going to a soup kitchen and serving dinner and dessert to nearly 200 homeless men and women.   Or about the mini-retreat we had one chilly breezy afternoon on the shores of Tampa Bay praying and reflecting and meditating on the works of Holy Spirit along with her wonderful sponsor.  

Which reminds me- I didn’t even mention my daughter’s chosen Confirmation sponsor- the lovely, faith-filled young lady who used to be our babysitter but is now a treasured friend.  My daughter was so incredibly blessed to have a sponsor who is not just a loyal and kind friend but also a great role model-- a truly magnificent example of authentically living out one’s Catholic Christian faith even through the sometimes difficult challenges of late adolescence and into early adulthood.

I didn’t mention much about the books we read in preparation, or the discussions we had, or the prayers we shared. 

But, despite my negligence in all this- I won’t let the opportunity to share about the actual Confirmation pass….

After all our learning and preparing and praying……..Last Thursday, finally- the Confirmation Mass was upon us!  My parents came and so did some close family friends.  And of course, our entire family was present to witness the sacrament.  My oldest son was privileged to be one of the altar servers assisting the bishop in the Mass.

My daughter dressed in the long flowing skirt and matching silver sweater we had painstakingly sought out.  She pinned on the name tag prepared for her for the event that proclaimed her Confirmation name- “Bl. Teresa of Calcutta.”   She wore a Holy Spirit medal and dainty jeweled cross earrings.  During the Mass when we were invited into the moment of silence before the official conferment of the sacrament, I offered my prayers that my daughter would feel the Holy Spirit touching her heart, but, that even in the moments of life when she didn’t that she would remain ever faithful and close to Our Lord.  My daughter looked beautiful and peaceful as she stepped forward with her sponsor to receive the sacrament.  The bishop spoke with her for just a moment, imploring her to be like Mother Teresa and see Jesus in everyone she meets in life and then he spoke the words of the sacrament, “Be sealed with the Holy Spirit” and anointed her head with the sacred chrism, making her a fully initiated Catholic.  

the best picture we got during the Mass

The Mass was moving and beautiful and the get-together afterwards was full of laughter and love as we celebrated the joy of the occasion.  

opening her gifts after her Confirmation

(how cute is it that she put her new Confirmation name on her cup?)

Preparing my daughter for this sacrament was a new experience for me.  I was no expert on Confirmation going into it but as with so many things- we learned together as we went along.  I am still no expert on the sacrament but through our months of sacramental prep, my daughter and I were very blessed to have many opportunities to talk about our faith and how to truly live it out and what it means to be a soldier for Christ.  I hope her faith was strengthened.  I hope my faith was strengthened too.  And I hope the Holy Spirit continues to work in both our lives inspiring us to holiness…..

Bl. Teresa of Calcutta (Confirmation prep post #2)

This week, would have been the 103rd birthday of Mother Teresa.  Next week is the 16th anniversary of her death, and her feast day.  This is the perfect time to share my 2^nd post of preparing for my daughter’s Confirmation.  

About 4 years ago, I read my two oldest children a biography of Mother Teresa.  We all enjoyed the story and when it was finished I asked them each to write a paragraph about what a beautiful person Mother Teresa was.   My then-8-year-old son looked at me funny and made some comment about how she looked like a “shrively old woman” to him, not a “beautiful” person at all.  My daughter, 11 at the time, understood though that Mother Teresa’s beauty went much, much deeper than her wrinkled skin or stooped posture.  She could see, even at the age of 11, that Mother Teresa’s beauty came from within-- from her kind spirit, her obedient nature, her life of sacrifice, service, and love.

Not surprisingly, when asked to choose a Confirmation saint this past summer, Bl. Teresa of Calcutta was the first saint to come to my daughter’s mind.  She said that as she thought about it, she just knew it had to be Mother Teresa.  As soon as she shared her choice with me, I knew she had made the perfect choice.   

There are so many reasons Bl. Teresa is beautiful.  Her holiness, her simplicity, her love of the “least of our brothers”, her dedication to serving others all make her a wonderful Confirmation saint- even if she is not yet canonized.  

But, there is another reason I am convinced that my daughter made the perfect choice in her Confirmation saint.  

Mother Teresa was a symbol of goodness and holiness all throughout my childhood.  I remember hearing about her charitable works and her humble way of life in my C.C.D. classes and watching clips of her on T.V. as she served the poor and met with world leaders to promote a greater respect for the plight of those in poverty.  Mother Teresa was referred to as a “living saint” and, even as I child, I could see that she was.

When she died in September of 1997, I was newly married, just beginning my adult life.  And three months after Mother Teresa’s death, my husband and I joyfully discovered we were going to be parents!  My daughter was born just 10 days after the 1^st anniversary of Mother Teresa’s death.  That means, of course, that Bl. Teresa entered eternal life just a few months before my daughter’s life began.   

How perfectly fitting, and how comforting to me as a mother, to know that Bl. Teresa has been watching over my daughter from heaven since the moment she was conceived.

And for more inspiration--here are a few quotes of hers that speak to her holiness better than any of my words ever could……

·         "Keep the joy of loving God in your heart and share this joy with all you meet especially your family. Be holy – let us pray."

·         "Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin."

·         "Like Jesus we belong to the world living not for ourselves but for others. The joy of the Lord is our strength."

·         Little things are indeed little, but to be faithful in little things is a great thing.

·         Everybody today seems to be in such a terrible rush, anxious for greater developments and greater riches and so on, so that children have very little time for their parents. Parents have very little time for each other, and in the home begins the disruption of peace of the world.

·         “God doesn't require us to succeed; he only requires that you try”

·         “We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.”

·         “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”

·         "If you're too busy to pray...you're too busy"

·         "People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.  If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.  If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.  The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.  Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.  For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway."

Photo credit-- from Wikipedia