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This is a beautiful time of year.

As the Easter season draws to a close, we celebrate four significant celebrations before the onset of Ordinary Time: The Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, The Solemnity of Pentecost, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, and the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. The Church gives us these beautiful Solemnities, or “dignified rites,” to call to mind the mysteries of our Faith. They recall the faithfulness of God throughout salvation history and the perfectness of His plan for His people. It is fitting that we take the time to dive into these mysteries in the final days of the Easter season, so that we may gain wisdom and understanding to carry us through the liturgical year.

The second of these Solemnities is the Solemnity of Pentecost, when Jesus sent His Holy Spirit to dwell within us and carry the Gospel to the ends of the earth. I think the Holy Spirit can be hard to grasp, at least for me it is. As people in a vast world, it’s not a difficult leap to imagine our creator as God the Father. The Old Testament scriptures drive this home, and we can easily see our smallness next to the omnipotence of God as a just and loving Dad. Jesus’ Incarnation allows us to see God the Son, as our brother. Jesus became man, walked on this earth, and shared in our humanity. He is our shepherd, our friend and our protector. However, God as Spirit can feel so out of the realm of our experience. To understand the Spirit, we must see the invisible and feel the intangible. It’s easy to miss the power of the third person of the Holy Trinity or to gloss over it’s significance, but the very mystery of the Trinity is made complete by the Spirit. The Spirit is made through the love of the Father and the Son; and that love creates a force so strong, so generous, and so resilient, that the Spirit becomes its own person in one
God. From the beginning, the Trinity in it’s oneness has made straight the path to
salvation through the power of perfect love.

As we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost and the gift of the Holy Spirit, it is helpful to
reflect on the Sacrament of Confirmation and the day we received the Holy Spirit in a significant way. We received the Holy Spirit in our Baptism, but it came again completely into our hearts at Confirmation. Our lives are bound sacramentally to the events that make up the Liturgical year and so the Sacrament of Confirmation which completed our initiation as Christians and fulfilled the outpouring of grace which began at our Baptism, is not a one and done event. The grace of the Spirit is available to us perpetually and celebrated annually within the beautiful feasts of the liturgical calendar.

The fundamental truth about our faith is that the Sacraments that we experience in our own lives on an individual scale, were first initiated in the life of Christ and His church, and are therefore celebrated again and again. As the Catechism defines them,

“The sacraments are efficacious signs, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. The visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament, they bear fruit in those who receive them with the required dispositions.” (CCC 1131)

In the modern church, Confirmation is easily overlooked or under appreciated. First, in that many fall away from faith before receiving this important outpouring of grace, and second, in that many who receive, do so without a full and complete understanding of the magnitude of the Sacrament. For many, Confirmation is described as “becoming an adult in the church” or “claiming your faith as your own.” These descriptions are not entirely false, but they barely scratch the surface of what occurs when the Holy Spirit descends upon you at Confirmation.

The appropriate and proper catechesis is required while also ensuring that the
Sacrament is not treated as a commodity, but a free gift of God’s grace. The
requirements of Confirmation are that the individual has been baptized and able to
renew their baptismal promises, has been properly instructed and prepared, and is in a state of grace. The future of the church must know the greatness of the gifts they are given in the Sacrament of Confirmation so that they may have confidence in their power and a deep desire to live in the grace they have received.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church gives us insight into the reality of what happens in the Sacrament of Confirmation and describes the effects that take place in the laying on of hands and anointing with oil. The Catechism shares the effects of Confirmation in Paragraph 1303:

When we consider these effects of Confirmation, we see that the sacrament is much more than simply a “coming of age,” or checking off a box to claim your faith as your own. Yes, in a sense, it is the completion of your Baptism and therefore the event by which you are fully initiated into the church, but it is also a bold declaration and acceptance of the gifts God gives. It is an outpouring of grace, a deepening of relationship and the acceptance of those gifts that are necessary to protect, defend, and live a full life in Jesus. When you are “sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit,” you not only accept the responsibility to use those gifts, but you are also claimed for Christ and make a promise to never be ashamed of the cross.

This Pentecost, let us look deep into our hearts and ask ourselves if we are allowing the Spirit to flow freely in our lives? Are we rooted deeply, united firmly, and bonded perfectly to the three persons of the Blessed Trinity? Do we spread and defend the Catholic faith by word and action? Do we confess the name of Christ boldly or are we ashamed of the cross on which hung our salvation?

This Pentecost, invite the Holy Spirit into your heart once again. Pray for the gifts He sends and accept the responsibility to use them well.

Come, Holy Spirit.