Group Confirmation
St. Isaac Jogues, St. Ursula, St. Joseph (Fullerton) St. Stephen
Cathedral of Mary Our Queen
June 13 2026
What and Why?
It is a joy to be with all of you this morning, young people, parents, sponsors, family members and pastors from St. Isaac Jogues, St. Ursula, St. Joseph, and St. Stephen’s parishes. You come from different parishes but you’re here for the same reason: to support our young people who are being confirmed. But what is Confirmation? And why is it important? Two questions I’d like to focus on with our young people who now will receive this beautiful sacrament.
What Is the Sacrament of Confirmation
Dear young people, I know that you are well-prepared to be Confirmed. You’ve prayed, studied, made a retreat, and did service projects. You learned that when you were baptized, something wonderful happened. From that moment on, you belonged to Christ. He chose you. He gave his life for you. In the love of the Holy Spirit, he drew you close to himself. Christ made you a member of the Church which he dearly loves. He made you a beloved son or daughter of his heavenly Father. He called you to friendship with God in this life and in the next.
Baptism, you might say, is the start of a beautiful friendship. And the Lord wants his friendship with you to grow stronger and deeper. That is why the Lord continues to speak to you through is Word, the Scriptures. And that is why he gave you the rest of the Sacraments: Reconciliation by which he forgives sins and helps you to keep your relationship with him in good repair. The Eucharist (the Mass) in which he gives you his Body and Blood to nourish you spiritually & strengthen your relationship with him & the Church. And Confirmation in which you receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit – the Spirit who connects you in love to Jesus and to his Church, and the Spirit who enables you to follow Christ throughout your life. Today, as I extend my hands over you in prayer and anoint you with Chrism, the Spirit of God will confirm in you the gifts you received in Baptism: wisdom, understanding, knowledge, right judgment, courage, reverence, and wonder and awe, or fear of the Lord. These are gifts that identify you as someone who belongs to the Lord, as someone who loves the Lord, is part of his people, and tries every day to follow him by the way you live.
The Importance of Confirmation
Which brings us to the next question: why is Confirmation important? I think, deep-down, you know the answer to that question: because the world you are growing up offers a lot of opportunities, but it also confronts you with a lot of challenges. We live in a world where we are connected digitally but disconnected from one another. A disconnected world tends towards anger, diversion, and anxiety. Many people are lonely, isolated, without friends. Getting a lot of “likes” on social media doesn’t replace friendship. and it doesn’t give our life has value and meaning. That comes from another Source.
And there’s something else. There’s a lot of good things in the digital world but there’s a lot of deception and many illusions. You’ve been told that the way to freedom is to do whatever you want, to reinvent yourself any way you want, to get or do whatever you want. In other words, to live a life centered on what we think we want and need, including things that can harm us spiritually, emotionally, & even physically. Living like that, you’re told, promises freedom. But actually, it’s a trap. We can become the prisoners of our own desires.
The Spirit of the Lord Is Upon Me
That is why we should really listen to what Jesus said in the Gospel. He said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me!” And filled with the Spirit Jesus came into the world – and he now comes into your lives – to free you from everything that could hold you back from friendship with God and friendship with others. He comes to free you to from unbelief, from spiritual blindness. He comes to free you from the oppression of a world that so often forgets how to love.
St. Paul makes the same point in another way. He urges us to live, not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. By flesh, he means a self-centered life. A life that leads to loneliness, isolation, and inner emptiness. Living by the Spirit is completely different. It is a life of freedom and joy. A life of love. A life of meaning. A life of service. A life that flows from belonging to Christ and to his people. When we live by the Spirit we live differently. St. Paul tells us what life in the Spirit produces: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Two ways of life lie open to all of us. On this, your Confirmation day, I pray that you will choose to live, not in the flesh but in the Spirit, all the days of your life. God bless you and keep you in his love!