Congratulations to all of the 8th graders who were Confirmed yesterday, including my class of 10 students! I pray that they will feel the abundant graces of the Holy Spirit and the Gifts of the Spirit, flowing in and through them all the days of their lives!

As promised, I put together a guided reflection that I’m going to use tonight to help the young people reflect on yesterday’s experience. I think this will give them an opportunity to sift through all of the hustle and bustle of yesterday and zero in on the actions of the Lord that were at the center of this sacramental experience.

I’m sure it was hard for the kids to take it all in as it was happening yesterday. It didn’t help that the sound system in the church is not the best and that the wireless microphone the bishop used for his homily was not working! About halfway through the homily, the associate pastor came to the rescue with another working microphone but, unfortunately, a great deal of his message was lost at this point. Finally, and I don’t want to be too critical here, but the fact that the bishop went on for about 40 minutes didn’t help either! He spent about 20 minutes doing some dialogue with the kids (this was when the mic wasn’t working) and then about 20 minutes of sharing his thoughts on the sacrament. I think the kids’ attention eventually drifted.

That’s why I think it’s helpful to take some time, post-confirmation, to reflect on the actions of the Rite and to help them to recognize the graces that penetrate any of these minor distractions.

Feel free to use this guided reflection and to adapt it to suit your own needs. I hope you find it useful.

Confirmation Guided Reflection

BTW, I plan to segue from the guided reflection into the song, I’ll Stand by You by the Pretenders (also covered by Carrie Underwood).

This Sunday, my 8th graders will celebrate their Confirmation! I look forward to the opportunity to participate in this wonderful celebration and to witness the completion of their Christian Initiation, knowing that I had a hand in bringing them to this day. Thank you Jesus!

On this coming Monday evening, we cross our fingers and hope that they all come back for class! Luckily, the DRE has established a culture over the years that expects every child to return after Confirmation for their remaining 5 or 6 classes. As a result, we’ve been enjoying nearly 100% return these past few years! Here’s hoping the trend continues.

I plan to put together a guided reflection for Monday evening, based on the experience of the Confirmation Mass on Sunday – an opportunity for them to reflect on their encounter with Christ in this sacrament. I will share it with you come Monday or Tuesday. I also will go over their confirmation exams with them as a group and also individually to give them some solid feedback and affirmation.

Have a great weekend! For those of you working with the RCIA, may your celebration of the Scrutinies be an enriching experience for all involved!

Thanks to Jennifer Schneider, Director of Faith Formation, and her staff at St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church in New Prague, MN, for alerting me to the fact that I made a big boo-boo on question #1 of the What’s Your Catholic IQ? in the current issue of Catechist Magazine. Here’s her email:

Joe

We are having a bit of a dilemma here at our office around a question in the Catechist Magazine catholic IQ. The question is #1 in the March issue-“Which of the following characters appears only in this year’s version of the Passion for Palm Sunday?”

The answer listed is C-Simon the Cyrenean, we were able to find references to him in Matthew & Mark as well-help!!

 Thanks!

 In His Joy!

Jennifer

Jennifer and her staff were diligent in doing their homework and are absolutely correct that Simon of Cyrene can be found in Matthew and Mark as well as Luke.

Sorry ’bout that one folks! Just a careless mistake on my part. What I like is that folks like Jennifer and her staff are spending the time diligently studying their faith, using the What’s Your Catholic IQ? feature and referring to Scripture and other resources to deepen their knowledge of the Catholic faith. That’s inspiring. I’m also appreciative of the charitable manner in which she/they brought the matter to my attention. Thanks Jennifer!

BTW, the good folks at Catechist Magazine have accepted my sincere mea culpa and have corrected the item on the online version!

You probably haven’t come across too many Lenten jokes, but here’s one that I enjoy!

A bartender notices that every evening, without fail, one of his patrons orders three beers. After several weeks of noticing this pattern, the bartender asks the man why he always orders three beers. The man says, “I have two brothers who have moved away to different countries. We promised each other that we would always order an extra two beers whenever we drank as a way of keeping up the family bond.” Several weeks later, noticing that the man only ordered two beers, the bartender said, “Please accept my condolences on the death of one of your brothers. You know, the two beers and all…” The man replied, “You’ll be happy to hear that my two brothers are alive and well… It’s just that I, myself, have decided to give up drinking for Lent.”