On Saturday, September 24, 2005, three weeks before one of the most important days of my life, my Confirmation, I attended a retreat with all the other Confirmation students in my class as part of our preparation process. During that retreat, I wrote a letter to myself that was mailed to me a year later.
On September 24, 2013, I pulled out that letter again and read it as a reminder to me of what it means to be Confirmed, so that I keep living out my Confirmation.
The next day, I checked my e-mail inbox, and it had a message from Kathleen, Ascension's Director of Religious Education, who, among other duties, oversees the confirmation process. She was looking for volunteers to help facilitate group activities for the upcoming Confirmation retreat, and was extending the offer to all the catechists, of whom I am one. I saw this as a great opportunity to be present to the Confirmands-to-be, and so I e-mailed Kathleen back and said I could help out. While I had other ideas for how to use my time on that Saturday, I had this sense of the Holy Spirit confirming my decision as the right one in the hours after I made it.
So about 8:45 on Saturday morning, I was over at Ascension. I had donned a red shirt for the occasion of interacting with Confirmation students, upon whom soon will be imparted the gift of the Holy Spirit; Kathleen had the same idea. Before 9 AM, I had gotten together with a group of 11 Confirmation students to begin a day full of activities.
The retreat started at the Ascension Parish campus. We went to four different places to learn about different ways of prayer and then go through prayer exercises in that style. David Anderson presented Taize prayer. Kathleen showed the students various website, social media, and other technological resources that can help them engage in prayer. David Phillipart, the Pastoral Associate, gave a presentation on the newly-built walking prayer labrynith out on the Parish Green and walking meditations, in which we took part. And Father Larry talked about Eucharistic benediction.
By 11 AM, according to the tolling of the bells, the participants were on two school buses, headed southwest to the Carmelite Retreat Center in Darien, IL. I had gone to my Confirmation retreat at this place 8 years ago, though at that time, no bus transportation was arranged for us. Upon arriving, there was an icebreaker activity, which led into lunch.
By 1 PM, we gathered in our designated space to begin our first group activity. Kathleen gave each of the 8 groups the story of a saint, most of whom passed away before turning 18. We were to read about the saint, and then the students had to create a poster and then present their saint to the rest of the larger group. My group had Saint Dominic Savio, a precocious young person who showed such devotion to living a holy life and participating in the sacraments, even at a young age, especially in how he exhorted fellow students at his boarding school to live piously. In fact, his story was echoed in all of the saint stories, as they faced struggles in their lives, yet displayed such courage and devotion to God and living holy lives.
Kathleen then gave a presentation. She showed a video from a project called Soul Pancake, which tells the stories of people with terminal illnesses in their last days of life. The video she showed was about a teen named Zach, and how he sought to live life to the fullest, even though he didn't have many months more to live, as he had been diagnosed with cancer that was in his lungs and bones. The students then reflected on what they would want to do when faced with little time left to live. Kathleen then told them some details about his spiritual life, which weren't covered in the video. She said that participating in Confirmation was so important to him, and he prayed earnestly that his blood cell count would be at the right level so that he could attend his Confirmation retreat. He participated in the sacraments earnestly in his time of illness. And near his death, he was so intent on being present as a sponsor for his confirmand that a private ceremony was arranged so he could be present. Kathleen said that the sacraments mean that much to certain people, even those who are near death.
The final group activity involved the students creating a skit to show how a sacrament is lived out in daily life; mine was given baptism.
With that, our time was over at the retreat center. We got back on the buses, and headed back to Ascension, where we participated in Mass as a group.
I was so encouraged and enlivened by doing my part to help out in this retreat. I even learned some things, like the power of the sacraments, in the lives of the saints, and even in our own lives, and ways of prayer, like the labrynith, which again, is something very new, and how I can use it in my own life.
My participation also demonstrated to me my own personal growth. I mean, I was regarded as an adult leader, facilitating activities. It even really meant something to me when the students in my group asked me, "May I go to the washroom?", as it showed that I was looked to as an authority figure by people, most of whom were just 9 years younger than me.
And it was certainly something interesting to be present in the midst of 88 young teens together, to observe how they take all of this in, and watch them interact with each other in doing group acitvities and making presentations. At first, I was a little hesistant in how I would reach out to them. But throughout the time, I kept rising to what my role was all about. I was there to be present as a model of faith. I once came across a resource that said a catechist is one who abides in the way of faith, and shows others to do the same. By the end of the retreat, I felt I had been a good presence in this regard. Of course, it's important to keep in mind that sometimes, we don't fully see the impact of what we do right away, so I may yet have to wait for the fruit to be born. And these young people are on the verge of bearing the fruit of faith.
As I sat at Mass, I often turned and looked around at the whole group of Confirmands, as we were seated in one section in the transept of Church. I couldn't help but keep thinking that these young people represent the future of the Church. They are the ones who are about to complete their formal faith education and initiation into the Church. They are the ones whom God will continually call to take up the work of the Church, namely, the mission He gave us, to love and serve Him and others. How exciting it was to be present to them in the midst of the process by which they come to embrace faith for themselves. How humbling to be a witness of this. And how great it was to join them in prayer on this day.
Veni Sancte Spiritus.
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