Young People Learn - And Serve - At Confirmation Spectacular

After arriving at St. Joseph Parish in Jasper and signing in for the 2016 Confirmation Spectacular the 250 young people who attended the Feb. 6 event moved to the Kundek Hall gymnasium and helped each other assemble goody bags of snacks for distribution to the needy. Hundreds of bags came together quickly, and the service project amplified something Bishop Charles C. Thompson talked about later during the Confirmation Spectacular Mass – two elements of the day that he found wonderful.

“… one is your willingness to be open in mind and heart to receive because we can’t give away what we don’t have,” he said. “And then you must have the courage, humility and generosity to give.

“The whole purpose of being confirmed and entering into full membership of the Church … is to embrace the mission of Jesus,” he added.  “How we embrace the mission of Christ is what it’s all about for us.”

Throughout the afternoon, the young people attended small-group presentations on discipleship and the gifts of the Holy Spirit from religious and laity who serve across the diocese. Seminarian Tyler Tenbarge, who will be ordained to the priesthood in June, led a final combined session on Confirmation itself.  

As an overview, Tenbarge offered Paragraph No. 1302 from the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “It is evident from its celebration that the effect of the sacrament of Confirmation is the special outpouring of the Holy Spirit as once granted to the apostles on the day of Pentecost.”

He went on to discuss the five effects of Confirmation as noted in CCC 1303:

• it roots us more deeply in the divine filiation which makes us cry, ‘Abba! Father!;’
• it unites us more firmly to Christ; 
• it increases the gifts of the Holy Spirit in us; 
• it renders our bond with the Church more perfect;
• it gives us a special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and action as true witnesses of Christ.

“It’s often the silent witness of your life that’s the most powerful,” Tenbarge said. “Christ came that we might have life to the full. He came to cover up that chasm that separates us from him.

“In confirmation, that becomes full,” he added, “you’re fully initiated into Christ. All that he asks is that you open yourself to him and say Yes Lord, show me the way … even if I don’t want to know the way; make me want to know the way.”

“You came here today with a sense of openness,” Bishop Thompson told the young people during Mass. “And God just needs a little (opening) to make all the difference in our lives. So I pray that you have the grace to be open and continue to receive, and that you take what you receive and be willing to share with others.”

The Diocesan offices of Youth and Young Adult Ministry and Catechesis organized the Confirmation Spectacular.