18 Years of the Continued Movement of the Spirit

When I was confirmed on October 15, 2005, I was fully aware of the importance of the moment.  The past 18 years have been an opportunity for me to realize the importance even more.

Upon completing my initiation into the Roman Catholic Church, I was sent forth into a new way of life, into a new mission.  The Holy Spirit has constantly been on the move to help me realize the nature of this mission.

One incredible way I've come to understand this idea of being sent on mission is at World Youth Day.  I had an incredible experience at the 2019 event in Panama.  I had strongly considered going to the WYD 2023 gathering in Portugal, but opted to participate in my Great Aunt Carmen's 90-year birthday celebration instead.  Still wanting to engage with WYD, I embraced the opportunity to participate in a WYD event at Lewis University in Romeoville, IL, back on August 5.  During the day-long event, I had the chance to spend time in prayer and attend presentations that helped me think more about the mission of faith.

The WYD 2023 theme focused on how Mary, upon hearing the news from the angel that she would bear the Son of God, went in haste to visit her cousin Elizabeth.  As I pondered this story, I came to realize we've all been given Good News, a realization of God's presence in our lives.  And we're sent to share it with others.

There was so much power in the words Pope Francis spoke in his welcome message, "You are not here by accident. The Lord has called you, not only in these days, but from the very beginning of your days. He called you by name."

It was so fitting that WYD 2023 concluded on the Feast of the Transfiguration, because WYD, by its nature, is a glorious mountaintop experience. Like with any Mass, we're sent forth into the rest of our lives in the plains to live out that experience, fully grounded in the glory of God, while seeking to realize it in all aspects of our lives.

The legacy of Pope St. John Paul II, whose feast day is October 22, the anniversary of his installation as Pope, continues to empower people, including the young people who he especially wanted to minister to with the establishment of World Youth Day.  I realize that this event has had great power throughout the years, especially when I read about the 1993 event in Denver.  Apparently, violence in the area diminished during the days-long gathering.  It all speaks to the idea that Pope St. John Paul II emphasized especially in Theology of the Body, that we are all called to the vocation to love God by loving others.

My Confirmation anniversary this year returns full circle in the sense that the readings for this weekend's Sunday Mass have cycled back to those that were proclaimed at my Confirmation Mass.  So I ponder anew what it means to be chosen by God, bearing His image, and a title and anointing He has given me as the Holy Spirit has made the Paschal Mystery a reality in me.  In the spirit of those powerful words in teh final verse of the Gospel passage from Matthew 22, I am called to give back to God the gift of who He created and chose me to be so that I may declare with my life that there is none like Him.

Cross at the World Youth Day gathering at Lewis University, with displays for various saints