Fr. Kevin – Page 2 – Saint Anne Catholic Church

The story of your life

Third in a series of letters to youth making confirmation this year. I pray the thoughts will also be of value to those who have already made their confirmation

My younger brothers and sisters in Christ

In my last letter I explained some basics about sacraments. With that bit of background, I’d like to talk more about your story – the story of your life and, especially, the part that God has and can play in that story. It may not be clear to you now, but God is interested in every part of your life and, most importantly, he wants it to be a great one. If you think of your life as a movie God wants it to have a great plot, filled with meaningful scenes, and a great ending.

So, where does your story begin? The writer of Psalm 139 tells us that it starts before your birth. He prays to God, “For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (139:13-14). I like that last part – “I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” It reminds me that God cares about us at a level deeper than any friend ever can or will.

Despite that great beginning you entered the world with “original sin.” Theologians have written long books on this and perhaps later you’ll want to learn more about it. For now, it may be enough to know that to truly love God we must have free choice and that, beginning with the first person created, we’ve tended to choose ourselves over God. We all seem to start our lives separated from God and baptism is what restores the relationship that God wants for us. Of course, we continue to struggle with choosing ourselves over God, but baptism is the sacrament that first puts us on God’s team.

I know that you likely don’t remember anything about your baptism, and no one asked if you wanted to be baptized. In fact, your parents and godparents are the ones who answered all the questions – professing their faith and promising to teach you about God. Still, baptism is a sacrament and for that reason alone it is worth looking back at what happened to you.

In my last letter I tried to explain that sacraments have both a visible part – the signs and symbols we humans can pick up with our senses – and a part that works on the level of our soul. The priest or deacon poured water over your head and said, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Your parents and family saw moving water that reminded them of washing something, but that act was more than symbolic. It actually caused your soul to be cleansed of original sin and that got you on God’s team.

Right after the baptism, you were anointed with sacred chrism – a special oil blessed by the bishop. Those present prayed that through that anointing the Holy Spirit would come into your life to guide and protect you. When you’re confirmed, the bishop will again use sacred chrism and pray for you to receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit. So, in some way, that anointing from a long time ago can be seen as the first step toward your confirmation.

I don’t know what the next steps have been like for you. Maybe it has been easy. Maybe your parents took you to church and lived out their faith so that God always seemed a part of your life. If so, you need to be grateful. A lot of youth don’t have that advantage. For them, the journey of faith has been harder. God hasn’t been a constant part of their lives. Oh, he’s been there, but without someone to provide some guidance, it can be hard to see.

If you fall into that second category – if for some reason God hasn’t been particularly present as you’ve grown up – there are two things you need to know. First, God put you on his team when you were baptized and nothing that has happened since is going to change that. Oh, you may need to receive the sacrament of reconciliation to acknowledge your failings and to wipe the slate clean, but God’s not looking for an excuse to cut you from the squad.

Second, nothing in the past changes confirmation. The Holy Spirit is still going to come into your life, and you will be changed – strengthened and empowered to be a better Christian. So even if others are farther along in their spiritual journey than you are, you can still experience all that God wants for your life.

Have you been praying? Yeah, I know it’s not always easy or natural. At times it may seem rather pointless, but you need to make prayer a habit. You can’t have a relationship with God unless you’re willing to spend time with him. Take some time later today and work on that relationship. Offer a short prayer or maybe crack open your Bible. You might like the gospel of Mark. It has some great stories about Jesus and it’s easy to read.

Don’t forget, God wants the absolute best for you. Get to know him. Find out what he’s got in mind for you.

Your brother in Christ,

Fr. Kevin

Spiritual Journey

The second in a series of letters to youth making confirmation this year. Even if you’re not in that group, perhaps the thoughts will still be of value.)

My younger brothers and sisters in Christ,

At the end of my last letter I equated the life that lies ahead of you to a journey. That’s a common theme in literature and particularly in the spiritual life. Let’s examine this idea of journey.

Perhaps the first thing you need to realize is that you’ve been on your spiritual journey for several years now. It started when your parents had you baptized. “Yes”, you may say, “But I didn’t know what was happening and besides, didn’t the priest just pour water on my head and say some words? What’s that got to do with me now?”

A lot. But before we talk specifically about your baptism, perhaps we need to first look at sacraments in general. What exactly is a sacrament? I know you memorized a definition for your confirmation class – probably something like “a sacrament is a visible sign of an inward grace.” What does that mean?

It helps to take a step back and get some perspective. What we’re discussing is some sort of communication or encounter between you and God. The problem is that you and God aren’t alike. At times we picture God as an old man with a long white beard dressed in a white robe, but God isn’t like that; he’s not a super-human. He’s not human at all. St. Thomas Aquinas pointed out that you and I are beings that exist. God, he said, is being and existence itself. In short, God isn’t like us. He’s totally different and if we’re that different how can God communicate with us? How would you communicate with an ant, for instance?

Humans have 5 senses that we use to understand the world and take in information. We smell things, hear things, see, taste, and feel the world around us. God knows that’s how we work and so that’s what he uses in the sacraments. All 7 sacraments make use of physical things that we can sense. In confirmation, for example, the bishop will use a special oil, make the sign of the cross on your forehead, and say some specific words. You’ll smell the oil, feel his hand, and hear the words. All of this is the “visible sign” part of that definition you memorized. But there’s another critically important aspect of sacraments – the “inward grace.”

This is the part that’s hard for us to fully get our heads around. At the same time as the physical things are done in a sacrament something else happens to us internally – at the level of our soul. We encounter God in a special way, and something changes in us that results in a new relationship with God. In reconciliation, for example, God forgives the sin that has separated us from him. That’s not the same as when you forgive a friend for something they did to you. The sacrament changes us deep down – our souls are cleansed; made “whiter than snow” as the Bible puts it (Psalm 51:7).

The Eucharist is another example of how God uses physical things to make possible an encounter with him. We believe that during the prayer of consecration the bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of Christ. That’s hard for some people to understand but perhaps now you can see how your sacraments definition fits. The visible sign is the bread and wine, and while it looks and tastes like bread and wine, at a level we can’t see, the elements have been changed. Most importantly, when we receive the Eucharist, we’re changed too.

At this point, you may be wondering why the visible signs are necessary. Can’t God just make the change happen? Sure, but if you think about it, you’ll see that we’re only helped when we know what has happened. Suppose your boyfriend or girlfriend wrote you a heartfelt letter but never gave it to you. They would have expressed their love, but it won’t do much for you unless you get the chance to read it. Similarly, God gives us the sacraments to help us see and understand what’s happening to us. It is also important to understand that we believe those “visible signs” cause the “inward grace.” The pouring of water over your head and the priest’s words at your baptism made you a new creation in Christ. It will be the bishop’s anointing and his words that will give you the fullness of the Holy Spirit in your life at confirmation.

Does this sound complicated – too complicated? It might. Most Christians take many years to understand sacraments and even then, often feel like there’s still more to know. That certainly describes me. But if you can grasp the basics now it will help you in the journey ahead.

Maybe the most important part of sacraments is understanding that God established them out of love for us. He could have left you and me to slog our way through life and do the best we could. Instead, he sent us his son, Jesus, so that we could know of his love for us and know how to “have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).

God wants you to have an abundant life. Even if you don’t think you’re much of a Christian right now, keep at it. Take some time to pray – to talk to God – later today. Keep building a relationship with the one who knows more than anyone what is best for you and loves you more than you’ll probably ever know.

Your brother in Christ,

Fr. Kevin