Confirmation Homily
Church of the Resurrection
Ellicott City, Maryland
May 31, 2025
A Joyful Day
I’m very happy to share with you today the great Sacrament of Confirmation. I’m grateful to your pastor, Fr. Aaron, to his team, & your parents & sponsors . . . all those who helped you get ready for this important moment in your life.
And it is an important moment in your life. You said so yourselves in the wonderful letters you sent me. Some of you said you experienced a deep conversion in your life as you were getting ready for Confirmation. Some of you told me how your eyes were opened to the needs of the poor. “I want to be confirmed because I want to be a part of the Catholic Church. I know that when I receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit, I will be able to face the challenges I will have in the future.” Another wrote: “I’m really excited about being confirmed. To be honest [she said], I didn’t have any idea what Confirmation was until I got introduced to LifeTeen and started coming every Sunday.” Many of you told me how you would practice your faith after Confirmation. Dear young friends: your excitement is rubbing off on me! Reading your wonderful letters makes me especially happy to confirm you!
You also chose some beautiful Scripture readings for your Confirmation. They really say a lot about what is happening to you today as you are anointed by the Spirit, as his gifts are confirmed in you, and as you become fully members of the Church, the Body of Christ.
John 15: 26-27; 16: 12-15
Let’s start with the Gospel where Jesus promises his Apostles that he would send them the Holy Spirit . . . Jesus said: “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from my Father … he will testify on my behalf . . .” As you open your hearts today to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit will testify to you that Jesus is your Lord and Savior, that the Lord loves you more than you can imagine, that his teachings are not only true and good but foundational.
But then again, you already know this! One of you wrote: “Growing up I struggled with religion because it felt so foreign to me and it was an old wives tale that I didn’t care for. But since I joined Lifeteen, I have truly met Jesus and understood the peace and love that comes from having a relationship with him. I feel he is working through me and calling me to bring people closer to him . . .”
1 Peter 2:4-9
And how beautiful is that reading you chose from the 1st Letter of Peter. It speaks to our hearts about making Jesus the foundation of our lives. The Spirit enables us to believe and to profess that Jesus is the cornerstone on which everything else in our life is built. The Spirit also enables us to see that we don’t build our lives all by ourselves but as part of a people whom Jesus claims as his own, namely, the Church. We are to be living stones who build up a spiritual house and to offer spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ.
Another way of saying this is that Confirmation completes your initiation into the Catholic Church. It makes you fully a part of God’s own people called out of darkness into God’s own wonderful light. Many of spoke of this very thing in your letters. One of you told me that her retreat was an amazing experience in which she ‘experienced God and felt absorbed in the Church community’ and began to think about her faith more deeply. Another wrote: “I want to be confirmed in the Catholic Church because my faith makes up a big piece of me!” In your parish, in LifeTeen, Scouting, and many other ways you experience a Church who is alive, young, vibrant, a Church who welcomes you, needs you, loves you – a Church that makes a big difference in your life and in which you can make a big difference in the lives of others!
Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-13
What a great segue to the reading you chose from Ephesians where St. Paul speaks about leading a life worthy of our calling – a life where we bear with one another, help one another, and try to preserve our unity in the Spirit as we profess one faith. But Paul goes on to say that each of us is called to do this in various ways: there are various ministries and vocations in the life of the Church. In your letters many of you spoke about the future – how you want to stay close to the Lord and the Church after Confirmation and how you want to keep on serving others as part of your faith. Bravo!
Pray every day to the Spirit whose gifts you receive today in their fulness. Ask the Spirit to guide you in the specific way you are to follow Christ. Let the Spirit open you to the great adventure of discovering your vocation whether it’s marriage, priesthood, consecrated life. Let the Spirit help you discover within your vocation the specific work God wants you, and you alone to do.
Today, as the Church celebrates the visit of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth, let us ask her to pray for you so that you may say to God what she said when she was given her unique vocation to be the Mother of the Savior: “Let it be done to me as you say.” With that she was filled with the Holy Spirit.