Confirmation Mass

Homily

By the Most Rev Timothy Costelloe SDB
Archbishop of Perth

St Mary’s Cathedral, Perth
Sunday 9 September, 2018

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The conferring of the sacrament of Confirmation which is about to take place in a few moments for our young candidates, is a very important moment for them and so my few words this morning are addressed first and foremost to you who are about to receive this wonderful sacrament. 

However, I hope that my words will also strike a chord in the hearts of all of us gathered here in the Cathedral this morning because the vast majority of us are already confirmed.  We once found ourselves in the same situation in which you find yourselves now.  As you will soon do, we too once stood up and reaffirmed the commitment to our faith which our parents and godparents made on our behalf at the time of our baptism.

 As you will soon do, we too once stepped forward to receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit with the oil of Chrism.  At that moment we were flooded with the gift of the Holy Spirit as you will be in a few moments time.  And why?  What did it mean and does it mean for us and what will it mean for you?

In a sense the answer is very simple.  Out of all the people God could have chosen to give the gift of faith God chose us, just as this morning God chooses you. And in choosing us and in choosing you God is calling us and empowering us to be the best and most faithful disciples of Jesus that we can possibly be.  The power of the Holy Spirit given to us in Confirmation enables us to live in fidelity to God and to God's will for us.  But of course this power is given as a gift.  God does not force us to use this gift; God simply offers it freely.

And so we must ask ourselves:  what does it mean to live as a faithful disciple of Jesus?  One short homily or one series of catechetics lessons cannot hope to answer this question fully.  In fact the answer can only be worked out over the course of a person's whole life. 

However, at the heart of it all is this: to be a disciple of Jesus is to recognise that he is indeed the way we should follow, that he is indeed the truth to which we should commit ourselves, and that he is indeed the source of life live as God intends us to live it.  To be a disciple of Jesus is to make room for him every day of our lives. It is to make all our decisions, big and small, in the light of his teachings and his example.  It is, in other words, to so live our lives that when people encounter us they see a reflection of the goodness, compassion and large-heartedness of Jesus himself.  This is what this morning's Confirmation means for our young candidates just as it is what our own Confirmation meant and still means for the rest of us, no matter how long ago our Confirmation took place. 

As we pray for our young candidates this morning let us also pray for ourselves and for each other that together we can be faithful disciples of Jesus and that his Church may grow more and more into the Church God needs us and is calling us to be.