February 15 Class Update: The Holy Spirit and the Power of One

Greetings everyone!

As we get closer to the dates of Confirmation, our focus in class has shifted toward the Holy Spirit and what it means to be confirmed.

Recap of Last Class

Our opening prayer was from Joel 3:1-2, a prophecy describing how God will pour out His Spirit upon all people.

When we are confirmed, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to be something amazing in the world, working to advance God's Kingdom--even more amazing than skydiving, like we saw Chris Stefanick do in a video at the start of class.

We spent time with two different Scripture passages, 1 Samuel 16:1-13, David's anointing as King, and Acts 2:1-12, the first Christian Pentecost.

Then we watched two more videos in the series on the Mass.

In the final part of class, in keeping with a custom for those preparing for Confirmation, everyone wrote letters to their future selves, which I will mail a year from now, close to your first anniversary of Confirmation.

To Do For this Week

As a reminder, I asked you to take home the sheet of paper with the passage from 1 Samuel 16:1-13 on it and read it once during this week.  You don't have to turn anything in for this activity.

Please also remember that your contribution to the writing letters collection is due on March 1.  You can buy a pack of blank cards at the dollar store, purchase stamps, or bring in $1, which I will use to buy supplies.  You are expected to use money from allowance or from helping with household chores, not just asking your parents for it.

Looking ahead, in our next class, we'll keep exploring the Holy Spirit and continue the video series on the Mass.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions, etc.

I'm eagerly looking forward to being at the Confirmation Mass on Saturday to support you at this momentous time when you began an important new phase of your lives as confirmed Roman Catholic Christians, and supporting you in the weeks following Confirmation.

For those of you who are out of town this weekend, I hope you have a great time in Washington, D.C., or wherever else you're traveling, and I look forward to being at your Confirmation next month at St. Giles.

And I continue praying that the Holy Spirit will work mightily in you.

We remain connected as One Church: All my relations.

May the blessing of God be upon you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Paul

Pentecost artwork in the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis in St. Louis, MO

Additional resources:

Here are brief summaries of the two Scripture passages we focused on in class:

The first was the story of David's anointing as King in 1 Samuel 16:1-13, which describes how God looks at the heart, and when David was anointed, the Holy Spirit rushed upon Him, as He will for you in Confirmation.

Then, we turned to the story of the first Christian Pentecost in Acts 2:1-12.  The Holy Spirit comes with a strong wind and tongues of flame, enabling the disciples to speak in other languages so that the multitude of people gathered in Jerusalem can hear them proclaim the wonders of God.  They came from many nations, and their locations are shown on the map on this webpage.  (You can click on the map to see an enlarged view.)

Indeed, through Confirmation, we complete our initiation into the Church as the Holy Spirit binds us more closely to the One Church and all its people.

It was on that note that I shared with you this video of "I Believe" performed by Nikki Yanofsky for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Here is the French language version, with the English translation included.

Here is a bilingual version performed by Nikki Yanofsky and Annie Villeneuve in 2010.

Here is a bilingual version performed by the One Voice youth choir.

Then, we watched two more videos in the series on the Mass, both on the Eucharistic prayer, which was divided into part 1 and part 2.