The Five Main Components for Confirmation

Last week we gave a brief history and explanation of Confirmation. With those things in mind, the pastoral staff worked with the input of parents and teachers to develop a process of formation for this year, centered on five main components. We have worked and prayed hard to ensure that this process of formation will provide the best possible environment in which our young men and women can receive and utilize the grace of Confirmation in their lives! The five components are:

We will be praying with our young men and women, praying for them, and doing our best to provide them with opportunities to grow in their own personal relationship with the Lord. The prayers of the entire parish, and of their own families, are very important in this regard! Through prayer, we share in their growth and also encourage it in the most effective way.

These two components are truly inseparable. Through them we hope to en-courage our young men and women to experience the faith for themselves, to ‘make it their own’ rather than simply learn about it on an academic level. Through small group interaction and also throughout their more formal formation, we hope to show them that their personal experience of faith is always connected with the community as well.

This component involves activity within the parish and also outside of the parish. As when Christ washed the feet of His apostles, we hope always to engage in service which will illuminate the importance of love which is joined to sacrifice and to the gift of self. Service involves giving on oneself; we are excited to see how our young men and women will surprise us this year with just how they will express themselves in these different environments!

This component doesn’t only belong to our catechists and staff, but in a particular way to the families of our young men and women. Instruction in the Faith depends very much on the instruction that goes on in the family itself, which is the most influential teacher of all. By being open to forming their children in the Faith, families also open themselves to learning from their children as well, and growing in love throughout the process.