I was supposed to get a little reprieve from
preaching this Sunday, but when I realized we were celebrating the Rite
of Reception into full communion with the Church, I knew I wanted to say
a few things about this celebration.
First, this is kind of a big deal! It really
is. It is Confirmation day and First Communion day for two wonderful
people, Tawney and Igor who, for quite some time now, in different ways,
have felt God calling them to claim their Catholic faith. They’ve done a
good deal of seeking and searching, praying and learning, and this
morning, right after the homily, they will join us in reciting the
Nicene Creed, the Church’s great Profession of Faith. Following that,
they will experience a powerful outpouring of the gifts of the Holy
Spirit in the sacrament of Confirmation and then, for the first time,
they will be nourished by the Body and Blood of Christ in the sacrament
of the Eucharist. So, this is a big deal – a very significant moment in
their lives!
I had the opportunity to spend an evening with
them a week or two ago and they shared with each other and with me their
stories of faith – how God has been working in their lives, calling
them, awakening them, challenging them. Their stories were very moving –
each one of them unique. Hearing them was a reminder of the
wondrous and surprising ways in which God works in all our lives, calls
us forth, calls us to grow. What a great privilege it is, then, to
be able to welcome them into the full communion of the Catholic Church
today and to celebrate with them the most sacred mysteries of our faith.
I say that for myself but I suspect that I am also saying it for all of
you as well.
In today’s reading from
First Corinthians, St. Paul spoke of a “certain wisdom possessed by the
spiritually mature.” It is not, Paul said, “the wisdom of this age
or of the rulers of this age.” No, it is “God’s wisdom,
mysterious, hidden -- wisdom that God planned before the ages for our
glory.” It is this very wisdom of God that our friends here, about
to be received into the Church, have found themselves attracted to and
even, if I may say it, seduced by. In wonderful ways that no one
could have ever predicted, God has reached into their lives and awakened
them to his presence, his love, his compassion, his truth, his
surpassing beauty, awakened, them, too, to the presence of Christ in
this great body of saints and sinners, the Catholic Church. And
thanks to the help of God’s grace they have responded.
They know, of course, that today is only a
moment -- a holy and blessed moment but only a moment -- along their
pilgrimage of faith. They know that God, who has already worked
wonders of grace in their lives is hardly finished doing so. They know
that, in a sense, the great journey of faith is just beginning!
St. Paul expressed this so beautifully in that same reading when,
quoting an ancient text, he said that “eye has not seen, nor has ear
heard, nor has it so much as dawned on the human heart, what God has
prepared for those who love him.”
So, to our two friends, I would simply say this
morning: look at what you have to look forward to!
And we look forward to walking this journey of
faith with you. We do. We are a community of believers who
celebrate our belief even as we sometimes struggle to believe. We
gather here for prayer and worship each Sunday, not because we have to
but because we want to and we need to. We need to give this time to God
and to each other, and we do this as a community, not as a random bunch
of individuals on our own personal walk with Christ. We need each
other and we need the rituals of our faith. We need to be fed and
challenged by the Word that is proclaimed and preached week here after
week, and we need to be nourished by the Bread of Life and the Cup of
Salvation in the Eucharist. We need to pray together, to sing
together, to celebrate together. And we also need to go forth from
this place to serve the poor, the hurting, the needy in the name of
Christ. All of this and so much more!
My friends, Igor and Tawney, who are about to
join this community in making the Profession of Faith, our community is
going to be greatly enriched by your presence, your unique gifts, your
witness. In the name of Jesus Christ we give thanks to God for you and
we welcome you!
Father Michael G. Ryan
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