Fifth Sunday of Easter To our Young People Who were preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation

Fifth Sunday of Easter

To our Young People

Who were preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation

  

Dear Boys and Girls,

I want to write to you to assure you that I you are very close in my heart and prayers in these days when you were to celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation in our Cathedral of Saint Mirin in Paisley.

Your families, teachers and parish priests were all looking forward to joining me in welcoming you on that special occasion, when the Holy Spirit comes down upon us to fill us with Himself and His seven-fold gifts and make us grown-disciples in His Church in the World.

In today’s First Reading we hear of how the Holy Spirit raised up seven members of the Church and filled them with the Holy Spirit so they could be wise in solving the problems the new, young Church was facing in their days, and even make it grow in the middle of all its troubles.

You have chosen your Confirmation saints who will be your special friends and guide you through your life.  In today’s reading Stephen, was one such saint whom the Holy Spirit filled with special gifts of wisdom and courage to stand up for his faith. He was the first person in the Church to die as a martyr, giving up his life for the glory of God. I pray that you too can be saints just like your Confirmation saints for the Church in our times as Stephen was for the Church back then.

In this Pandemic, even though our churches are closed, we can see how our faith is alive.  We have found out that the Church is not just a building of bricks but is like a living Temple with Jesus as its cornerstone and each one of us like a precious stone building up the House of God by the way we live our lives close to Jesus.

I am already working with your priests and teachers to find another time and place for your Confirmation.  It may be that we celebrate it when you have gone to High School and maybe the witness of your Confirmation preparation there will bring many blessings to your new school communities.  We will make sure your parish priests and Primary teachers are there to celebrate with you and it will be a lovely reunion.

So, do not be afraid of these times and do not worry that you will miss out on your Sacrament of Confirmation.  Jesus always finds a Way and He will ensure you receive His Holy Spirit so that with His power you will do even greater things than He did, so that the Church continues to grow in goodness and grace.

I am praying especially to Our Lady, Who waited with the first disciples until the Holy Spirit came, that She will wait with you until He comes to pour out His gifts abundantly on our Confirmation Class of 2020.

God bless and keep you always safe full of hope.

Bishop John