Bishop Glen John Provost
Bishop of Lake Charles
Confirmation Homily
Eastertide 2014
“Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope.” I Peter 3:15
I make a real effort to read through all of the letters that you send me requesting Confirmation. All of them are well written and encouraging in many ways. I could quote any number of them, but something one young man from St. Henry Parish wrote caught my attention. He said that being Catholic “is to love Christ completely.” That to me says it all. “To love Christ” is certainly what we should all do, but he adds the adverb “completely.” That is the key word here—not sometimes, not when I’m feeling good, not when it suits me—no, but “to love Christ completely.” At Confirmation you are making a statement. You are Catholic, you are proud of it, being Catholic has brought you to Christ, and it is not just one option out of many. As that young man said, “to love Christ completely” is what Catholicism is all about, and “to love Christ completely” is what Confirmation moves us closer to doing.
What does Sacrament of Confirmation do to you? What effect does it have? The Catechism of the Catholic Church says the following: the Sacrament of Confirmation “… gives us a special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and action as true witnesses of Christ, to confess the name of Christ boldly, and never to be ashamed of the Cross” (#1303). This is not a weak statement. There are some strong words here—“defend,” “action,” “witness,” “confess,” “boldly,” “never to be ashamed.” This is no different from what we were taught when I was confirmed. We told that with Confirmation God was giving us the strength to teach, defend, and witness to the faith. To teach, to defend, and to witness to the faith summarizes well that strong teaching of the Catechism and the Church.
How do we teach the faith? As students, I think a good way is by giving good example. Does someone want us to cheat on an exam? We can say no. Does someone want us to try drugs or alcohol? We can say no. Does someone need help with a project? We can say yes. Does our homebound grandmother need a visit? We can say yes. There are plenty of ways to teach the faith, “to love Christ completely.” When you are parents, you will have even greater responsibility to teach your children about the truths of our faith as revealed by Christ and His Church. Remember that the best teacher is example.
How do we defend the faith? The faith is under attack all of the time. We have a responsibility to stand up for it. Again, the faith is not one option of many. You are not something else first, then a Christian. Baptism and Confirmation creates a special bond between us and Christ that goes deeper than blood. It is a spiritual bond. “To love Christ completely” means that when someone challenges our beliefs we need to stand up for what we believe and profess. One of my favorite stories comes from a friend of mine who had invited some people over to her house for a meal. At the entry to her house was a crucifix mounted on the wall. One of her guests pointed to it and said, “You believe in that?” Without missing a heartbeat, she answered, “That I believe in it is not my problem. That you do not believe in it is yours.” She smiled and served the meal. She had defended what she believed—with charity but clearly. She was not “ashamed of the Cross.”
How do we witness to the faith? The Creed that we pray is not just a bunch of words that we memorize and say by rote when we go to Mass. Each and every belief in the Creed implies some sort of response by us. Let us take one example. If I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, then I do not have other gods before me—like wealth, pleasure, honor, and power. The Scriptures and some of the most thoughtful writers in our Catholic tradition remind us that these four things are what often replace God in our lives. Consider how money can become the center of our lives. Think of how much some spend on pornography in this country alone, how much time is wasted on the pursuit of sexual pleasure. Reflect on how much suffering in the world is brought about by leaders who are obsessed with power. When wealth, pleasure, honor, and power become the focus of our lives, we cannot acknowledge God as our Father. We cannot have it both ways.
As we celebrate Confirmation today, let us remember the words of that young man in the letter. “To love Christ completely” is what it is all about. Completely means exactly that, not partially, not sometimes, not when I feel like it. Completely means all the time. St. Peter gives us good advice in his first letter: “Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope” (I Peter 3:15).