Yesterday, one of our diocese's bishops came to the parish for Confirmation. It was a great day all around for everyone. I'm glad the stress of getting ready for this day is over. But I wanted to share with you something that happened yesterday that made me just stand back and praise God.In our parish, the Sacrament of Confirmation is conferred in 8th grade. The kids are all 13 and 14 years old and they bring with them to their classes and other sacrament preparation all of the things that 13 and 14 year old people are into (and not into).
There is one young man who I had the pleasure of working with one-on-one for some of his Sacrament prep. And he seemed really serious when he and I worked together.
Then there is his other personality: the one he has when he is with his other 13 and 14 year old friends. This is the personality I am a little bit more familiar with. The "Why do I have to stalk you to get you to turn in your paperwork" personality. The "Can I go to the bathroom 50 million times so I can meet my friend in the bathroom to talk" personality. This "split personality" is pretty typical of the teenage animal (But indeed, when it comes to "God stuff," don't we all suffer from this a bit?). It doesn't bother me as much as it used to.
Well, it being Saturday, Confessions started at 1:00. Confirmation Mass was at 2. This young man was in church at 1:30, when the kids and their sponsors were to be gathering to process into Mass. I was sort of taken aback. I thought at first he was hanging out, but none of his friends were there. I thought about telling him to go on downstairs, but I'm glad I didn't. He was there for confession. When I talked to his mom after Mass, she said that he wanted to get to church early so that he could go to Confession. I was surprised that he even knew that confession was going on then.
You've really got to hand it to mom and dad. They are doing it right. They have set an excellent example for their son and they ought to be quite proud.
Let's pray for T. that he will use the gift of courage that he received sacramentally yesterday to stand up for what is right, to set an example for his friends to stay close to Jesus in His Church. Let us pray for his mom and dad that they may never tire of doing the right thing by their kids.
4 comments:
Wow! What a great example this young man has set. You're right--his parents are doing something right. So is his catechist :)
He and his classmates are in my prayers this weekend.
Of course, the confirmands knew that to receive Confirmation while in a state of mortal sin is a sacrilege. Those other kids just went to confession at some other time.
I hope.
Thanks Barb!!
Tommissar!!!! Hope you can get your blog back up soon. We're all waiting to see whom you'll endorse for President.
We did make sure that they went to Confession during CCD two weeks earlier. That's what was extra pleasant/surprising when I saw him at the back of the church: he had just been to Confession two weeks earlier. And the fact that he had asked his mom and dad to make sure he got there early enough to go to confession before Mass was just awesome.
That is wonderful. Gosh, there must've been tons of people confirmed this past weekend--that's pretty cool, too!
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