The amount of well-wishes and gifts tangible and otherwise that I receive in celebration of my birthday is plenty of reason for me to consider how much of a gift that life is, and how I come to that realization because of all the people who have been part of it.
From the start, many people have given of themselves to me. And my life has taken on a whole new dimension because of the ways I've given to others, especially in recent years. The relationships I have built with my 225 current and former Religious Education students, and their families, speak to the power of how I've discovered who I truly am through giving of myself to invest in them.
I have written often about the impact that teaching RE has had on me, and for good reason. The experience brings together the most significant parts of my life. As I spend time with these middle schoolers, I'm reminded of how my middle school years truly defined me, especially in forming my understanding of faith for myself. This aspect of personal growth and development poised me to be truly impacted by the experience of my own Confirmation, even as it happened at the beginning of my time in high school.
Every Confirmation liturgy I've attended in my time as a RE catechist stirs something inside of me, and so, in some respects, makes it an emotional experience. Over the past month, I attended Confirmation Masses on two different Saturdays for my students. Most were confirmed at my home parish at Ascension on February 19, and some others at nearby St. Giles Parish on the north side of Oak Park on March 12. Both days were cold, but I could feel the fire of the Holy Spirit at work. It was similar to the cold day of February 6 for Confirmation last year. This year, we were back to having a Mass with a Bishop present.
In fact, on February 19, I intended to get up around 7 AM, but my body aroused me at what felt like 5 AM from the sheer excitement of what was coming that day.
As typical with other Confirmation liturgies, I really felt a sense of celebration at the Mass at 10 AM on the morning of February 19, fully aware of how much I had invested in these students to accompany them to this Kairos moment in their lives. And it was special to join them in company with family, and also family friends, some of whom were their parents' friends from years back, now serving as Confirmation sponsors.
Bishop Birmingham celebrated the Mass that day, and he spoke eloquently in his homily about how Confirmation is meant to equip us to go out to be more fully aware of the needs of the world around us and to do our part to meet them.
It was a touching moment when I approached each student after her/his turn with Bishop Birmingham for the sacrament and acknowledged them with words of blessing.
Once Mass concluded, I felt so energized as I made the rounds to visit with the students and literally cheer them on with pom-poms. I lingered for a long time after Mass ended until the Church was empty. Then I stayed to pray quietly.
I was truly filled with the energy of the Holy Spirit, all the way down to my Holy Spirit socks.
I bought them at the gift shop of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on my way back from Florida in March 2021, and this day was the first time I wore them for a Confirmation Mass.
I also wore the same suit and tie that my grandma gave me that I wore for the first time at my Valparaiso University graduation on Pentecost Sunday, May 19, 2013. It's fitting for me to wear that suit because teaching RE is an important part of how I've lived out my faith experiences from college, which were crowned on that Pentecost Sunday.
I wore it again, along with the Holy Spirit socks, 3 weeks later for the Confirmation Mass at 10:30 AM at St. Giles, with 13 students from Ascension, and 5 of mine among them. All of those who were mentors in the Confirmation preparation process at St. Giles announced the names of their students at Mass, and I was granted the honor of announcing the names of the group from Ascension. It reminded me of how humbling it was last year when I announced the names of the students in the 2021 group.
This day was a nice opportunity to connect with the students in the Sunday 8th grade RE class, in addition to mine. And it was great to connect with the families of the students and their family friends, too, especially those families who have older children that are former students of mine.
There was a great opening hymn for the Mass, speaking about how we're a pilgrim people and the role of the Holy Spirit in our journey.
It was a special moment when I stood before the assembly and announced the names of the Ascension group. I was fully aware of how much I have invested in them, and the tremendous blessing they have been in my life these past few months. I also recognized that through other parts of the Confirmation process, I was able to be present to even the Sunday students. Different from the Mass at Ascension, as I announced each student, I included her/his saint name, which was a special touch recognizing the new stage of life they enter as confirmed Roman Catholics.
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| Here I am, announcing the names of the Ascension students at the first St. Giles Confirmation Mass on March 12. This photo is courtesy of the St. Giles YouTube channel. |
The celebrant was Bishop Turley, the Bishop Emeritus of Chulucanas, Peru. He spoke so insightfully about how the Holy Spirit truly transforms us to make God known in the world as His witnesses.
As the students came to Bishop Turley one by one, I had a great view from my seat up front. Once the Ascension students had their turn, I made the rounds to acknowledge them with words of blessing.
And once again, when Mass was over, I reveled in the atmosphere as I went around to visit with the families. Alex, the St. Giles sacraments coordinator, invited me to lunch at the rectory, served to staff and volunteers participating in the Masses, along with Bishop Turley, Bishop Casey (the celebrant for the next Mass in the afternoon), St. Giles pastor Father Carl, and Ascension resident priest Father Rex. It was a merry atmosphere.
When it was time for me to leave, I bade farewell to Father Rex, who remarked that he was arranging an Uber ride. I immediately offered to drive him back to Ascension, which was on my way. As I drove, I continued to revel in the grand experience we just had. I reflected on how impactful my own Confirmation was in my life. As I drove past Percy Julian Middle School, I pointed to the building shared with Father Rex about how my years as a student there defined me, directing my journey of faith to where it has led me now.
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| I told Father Rex I wanted to get a selfie to remember our memorable car ride back from St. Giles, and he agreed to join in a pose. |
In some respects, the car ride home was as amazing as attending the Confirmation Mass itself, and provided a wonderful way to cap off the experience by reflecting on what I felt the meaning was of what we had just experienced, which was stirring in my heart, reminding me of the marvelous work God has done in my life, adding one amazing thing on top of another.
In fact, just yesterday, I gathered with the students in my class at the Lenten weekly Tuesday evening Mass held at Ascension. It was a great follow-up to the amazing day on Saturday, seeing my students participate in the worship life of the Church. To cap it off, my class aide got a birthday card for me, and passed it around for the students to sign. After Mass, a group of them handed it me. I was truly touched by the gesture, because they are a significant reason why I am celebrating with great joy today. And I was so glad to celebrate the eve of my birthday by being with them.
Certainly, we don't have mountaintop experiences all the time in life. Yet, I acknowledge that I can draw from these mountaintops that God is truly at work all the time in life by the power of His Holy Spirit, and how He invites me to become aware of it every day.
Truly, in the spirit of what St. Catherine of Siena said, the journey to Heaven is Heaven itself.
So on this day, as I celebrate the gift of life, I rejoice in the Abundant Life to which God has invited me to enter more deeply day by day, and how I truly experienced it, and the joy of these foretastes of Heaven I had at these Confirmation Masses.
And I give thanks that I have encountered an important part of my identity by taking from the gifts I have been given and handing them in Religious Education class on to the awesome students who are a huge blessing in my life.
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