Dear Friends,
The countdown has begun! Sixteen of our teenagers will receive the final Sacrament of Christian initiation into the Catholic Church: the Sacrament of Confirmation. This will take place at the Cathedral on Saturday, April 27th at 2pm. This is the next big step of their spiritual journey that their parents began for them at their baptism. Our teenagers will undergo the Rite of Confirmation and renew for themselves their baptismal promises. They will receive in full the mark of the Holy Spirit, symbolized by the chrism oil on their foreheads, just as they first did with Holy Water at their baptism.
On behalf of our entire parish, I would like to congratulate all our teens for the commitment they have shown in the past year towards their spiritual formation. I am always excited to celebrate the Teen Mass on Sunday accompanied by the Teen Band under the leadership of Noel Mendoza and Nelson Gonzales. Our Confirmation Teens have been very regular at that mass, and they have been a delight each time.
I want to thank our Confirmation Director, Mike Aliscad and his dedicated team (Phillip Tafoya and Israel Vega) and other volunteer teachers (Edelyn Baldonado, Dr. Terry Heywood, Brendan Murphy, Karen Seto). Please support our Teens and their summer project by attending Cinco de Mayo.
Today, if you ask teenagers, “What brought you to seek Confirmation,” we shouldn’t be entirely surprised when all the students or most of them admit they are present only because someone at home had forced them to attend and be confirmed. Not all of them are personally committed to receiving the sacrament, the Holy Spirit, or to embracing their adult Catholic life - at least not yet.
