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| At my baptism |
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| At the same font in 2013 |
That spiritually significant number of 33 gives me further reason to ponder the nature of this occasion.
While I don't remember anything about my baptism, I fully acknowledge that it was the start of something important in my life. I was chosen by God and set on a path to walk in His way.
I think about the question that Pope St. John Paul II posed to the French people during his 1980 visit to France, a question that he posed on other trips: "What have you done with your baptism?"
Since baptism is an initiation sacrament, it is certainly important for us to consider what it started and what has become of it.
My mind goes to the recent past as I recall the Confirmation Masses in Oak Park parishes during this month of April. I spent a chunk of time at Ascension Church on April 13, a splendid spring day, to be present and support the Confirmation candidates, which represents how I had been present to them during the formation process at the monthly meetings, in addition to teaching those who were in my Religious Education (RE) classes this year and last year. Additionally, it is an opportunity for me to rejoice in the connections I've made in the church community with my students and their families, particularly as I circle back to reconnect with former students whose younger siblings were confirmed this month. I even think about how I reconnected with Kelly Good, who I taught with several years ago in RE, and whose son and nephew, both in my class last year, were confirmed this month. As a sign of our good working relationship, she spontaneously invited me to join their family celebration after the Mass.
Bishop Casey celebrated both Masses at Ascension, and he used a story I heard him share the lats time he was at Ascension for Confirmation. He described a time he went on a canoeing trip in Quetico Provincial Park and got to a cliff. After much hesitation, he convinced himself to jump off it, which was an amazing experience. He encouraged the young people to take the leap. (One of my former students motioned to me when she started hearing this story and then asked if she was having a dej vu moment, and I confirmed it was the same story at her confirmation.) For the rest of of us gathered there, he encouraged us to see each individual Confirmation as an encounter with God.
And that gave me an important idea, that as I see God encountering each candidate in the individual anointing, I consider how I have lived out my faith in teh world at large, even as I have brought it full circle by supporting those young people in Confirmation.
Father Carl, the pastor of the Oak Park parishes, has certainly caught wind of my high level of involvement, as evident a little more than a week ago when I was at St. Giles for the Confirmation Mass, which included a few students from Ascension. A few days prior, the Archdiocese contacted the parish to say that Cardinal Cupich would celebrate the afternoon Mass. When Cardinal Cupich was in the back of the church waiting for the opening procession, Father Carl insistently motioned to me, and then when I approached them, Father Carl introduced me to Cardinal Cupich as someone heavily involved in the formation of the young people. I've seen it as a calling, an extraordinary opportunity to keep my faith fresh by handing it to the next generation, as I see faith as a great gift that I'm meant to put into action.
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| A fellow member of the congregation who's good with a digital camera got this photo of me with Bishop Casey following the afternoon Confirmation Mass at Ascension on April 13. |
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| Here I am with Cardinal Cupich following teh afternoon Confirmation Mass at St. Giles. The Master of Ceremonies, Devon Hezy, photographed me. |
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| Father Rex photographed me following Mass today, April 28, as I mark the anniversary of my baptism. |
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