4th Sunday of Lent A
Confirmation – St. Joseph, Cockeysville
March 15, 2026
I. Introduction
I’m very happy to be with you on Laetare Sunday
to share with you the wonderful Sacrament of Confirmation.
The word “laetare” means “to rejoice” –
and with your parents, sponsors, catechists,
as well as your parish priests and deacons, I rejoice to share with you
the full outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of Confirmation.
This sacrament strengthens your union with Christ and the Church,
deepens in you the gifts of the Holy Spirit which you received in Baptism,
and equips you to bear witness to the Lord throughout your life.
II. The Vision and Joy of the Blind Man Jesus Cured
A. On this Laetare Sunday, this Sunday of joy in the midst of Lent,
let’s think for a moment about what gives us joy, what makes us happy.
As you know, many things are out there that promise to make you happy.
Some of them may make you happy for a while, others will let you down,
and still others threaten to rob you of happiness and peace, maybe forever.
The joy the Church celebrates today is real, lasting, and dependable.
It’s the joy that the man born blind experienced
when Jesus touched his eyes and opened them for the first time.
Imagine that man’s joy!
B. You might say to me, my vision is perfect – it’s 20/20 – and that’s great.
The gift of sight is precious. You see the world around you. You read.
You perceive beauty. You see the faces of those you love.
No wonder the man born blind was happy to meet Jesus.
Jesus enabled him to see.
C. But Jesus wasn’t merely a miracle worker.
In curing the man born blind Jesus had a deeper purpose in mind.
He wanted to open the eyes of his mind and heart to the light of faith.
Curing the man’s blindness was a sign, a visible and perceptible sign
of a deeper cure that took place in that man’s soul.
Thanks to the gift of faith, he could now see the truth and beauty of God’s love,
his horizon of hope widened, and he now possessed the beautiful insight
that God loved him, that he belonged to God, that is precious in God’s sight.
At first, he thought the man who cured him was merely a prophet.
Later, he encountered Jesus again and Jesus asked him, as he asks you today,
“Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
He answered, “Who is he that I might believe in him?”
Jesus answered, “You have seen him and it is he who speaks to you now.”
“Lord, I believe,” the man answered, “and he worshipped him.”
Encountering Jesus changed that man’s life, forever.
III. The Joy of Being Confirmed
A. I’m hoping and praying that your encounter with Jesus is also life-changing.
In Confirmation the Holy Spirit enlightens the eyes of your soul.
The Spirit helps you tell the difference
between the things that bring sadness, anxiety, loneliness, and isolation,
and those that bring happiness, peace, friendship, and joy.
The Holy Spirit strengthens the faith you received at Baptism,
opening still further the eyes of your soul
so that in the clear light of faith you can see, know, and love Jesus Christ,
and perceive the truth and wisdom of the Church’s faith.
Most of the all the Holy Spirit confirms in you the insight
that you are loved by God, that you belong to him,
and that in belonging to God you are part of his People, the Church.
B. One of the ways you experienced joy in the Holy Spirit is
by reaching out and helping those in need.
When we allow the Lord to open our eyes to the needs of others
and then to give us the strength and courage to reach out to them,
we experience a joy and a peace that self-centered love denies us.
C. Let me leave you with two points:
First, the joy of the Holy Spirit is an enduring gift.
What you receive today will be a part of you forever.
But you have to take care of this gift.
Just as you have to take care of your eyes,
so too you need to take care of your “inner vision”, your faith,
so that it does not become obscured by sin or by the cares of this world.
We do this by prayer, reading Scripture, going to Mass on Sunday,
and making regular use of the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
D. And here’s the final point.
When the man in the Gospel was cured of blindness,
he began to walk with Jesus and became his witness.
The Holy Spirit invite you to do that same thing today:
to walk in the company of Jesus, namely, the Church,
and to respond to the specific way Jesus is calling you to follow him.
It’s called a vocation –
and it’s not too early for you to start praying and discerning what it will be.
Some of you will be called to marriage and family;
some to priesthood or consecrated life;
and all of you are called, even now, ‘to live as young men and women of light’,
whose lives shine with the beauty of Jesus Christ
who lives and reigns with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, forever and ever. Amen.