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The
confirmation gifts of reverence, wonder and awe
PRAISED BE JESUS
CHRIST!
(Now and Forever)
The Easter Season has come and gone. It is intended to be a glorious
celebration of a basic doctrine of Catholicism with reflection on the
sacraments of initiation and the mission those sacraments confer upon
us. That commission is to live our Catholic religion with enthusiasm, to
reach out proactively inviting others to join us in living the fullness
of that faith (evangelization), and to take the values of Jesus Christ
in which we are formed by the Church into the world in which we live so
that world can become a better place, transformed by the saving power of
Jesus Christ. It is a most exciting time of year.
In addition to the insight provided into the beginnings of the Church,
the daily Scripture readings for Mass reveal the transformation from
confusion to hope experienced by the first followers of Jesus Christ.
They were traumatized by his death and burial. His post-resurrection
appearances changed that. The sadness of death gave way to the bright
promise of immortality.
The excitement of the season in my case is intensified by the privilege
which is mine to administer the sacrament of confirmation. While there
are circumstances in which priests may administer that sacrament (for
example, during the rites for the initiation of adults), the bishop is
the normative celebrant of confirmation. This year I have administered
the sacrament to candidates from 35 parishes, more than 1,000 young
people.
Through the imposition of hands and the anointing with chrism, in the
sacrament of confirmation God puts his mark on the baptized, calling
them to be “apostles,” that is, witnesses to the life, death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is truly exciting to be part of that.
One of the homilies I often use during the administration of
confirmation focuses on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Traditionally they
are identified as the gift of wisdom and understanding; the gift of
right judgment and courage; the gift of knowledge and reverence, wonder
and awe. These “gifts” empower those who receive them to understand
better the difference be-tween what is morally right and wrong, while
infusing the courage needed to make morally good decisions. Empowerment
to have respect for God and what is holy is also part of the sacrament.
The need for the gifts of knowledge, wisdom, understanding, right
judgment and courage is obvious. Fidelity to the commitments ingrained
in baptism requires large doses of each. But, it is respect for God and
what is holy that has been much on my mind this spring. Perhaps this
focus has been ignited by the hype over The Da Vinci Code. Yet,
in my view of the world, The Da Vinci Code and similar books are
only part of an ever-growing pattern of defamation against the Catholic
Church and many of the things Catholics revere.
The fact that this often is not recognized for what it is tells me that
too many have been swept along in the secularization of culture, the
disastrous results of which are being noted in western Europe even as
they are accepted as politically correct here in the United States. The
Jewish community and Muslims would never accept the same bullets were
they directed toward them. Yet, Christians apparently are expected to
roll over when our religion is defamed, turning the other cheek as good
citizens in a pluralistic society.
One who does not roll over is William Donohue. Perhaps you have noticed
him from time to time on television. Mr. Donohue is president of the
Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, headquartered in New
York City.
The mission of the Catholic League (www.catholicleague.org) is to defend
individual Catholics and the institutional Church against defamation and
discrimination. The League publishes a journal called Catalyst
which tracks examples of discrimination and Catholic bashing.
At Christmastime, the League focused in on examples of the continuing
secularization of Christmas. Determination to remove Christ from
Christmas reached ludicrous depths this past Christmas. The League took
that on with enthusiasm.
This Easter, the Catholic League turned its attention to efforts to
transform Easter egg hunts into spring egg hunts. The goal, as seen by
the Catholic League, was to further the secularization of Easter. It
noted that spring egg hunts didn’t exist prior to the 1980s. One was
recorded in 1988 and another in 1989. But, from 1990 to 1994, there was
an average of 2.6 spring egg hunts. From 1995 to 1999, the average
jumped to 10.8 and, from 2000 to date, the average has been 28. One does
not need Jesus Christ or the resurrection to celebrate Easter, in other
words. Rather, everyone will be better off if Easter is transformed into
nothing more than a rite of spring.
More noteworthy “targets” of the Catholic League in recent months have
included a radio talk host who made degrading remarks about Blessed
Teresa of Calcutta, suggesting that she got sexual kicks out of watching
people suffer and die and comparing her to Charles Manson.
Another talk-show host had this to say about the Catholic response to
the immigration issue: “Make no mistake about why this is happening.
This has nothing to do with compassion for Mexican workers. This has
nothing to do with fairness for Mexican workers — it has to do with
greed … I’m not going to be duped by this sanctimonious garbage that all
churches are good and that the institution itself is good. Bah Humbug.
The institution is rotten from the top to the bottom.”
Christians have been mocked throughout history. Jesus pulled no punches
in letting the founders of our Church know that following him would mean
bearing the cross of insult. Those who are firm in their faith sustain
the assaults with renewed determination to live their Catholicism with
enthusiasm, but there is a need to recognize the mockery and defamation
where it exists, clever or not, entertaining or not, flowing out of the
mouths of bigots or simply people who have lost all sense of civility.
One of the goals of the Catholic League is to hold up examples of this
mockery and defamation. Some, no doubt, say that the babble that is
stuffing cash into the pockets of the clever doesn’t deserve our
attention. Yet, if it is not challenged it likely will get worse. The
sense of wonder and awe that is conferred through the sacrament of
confirmation is a gift of the Holy Spirit given to the baptized so they
won’t fall into the trap of thinking ridicule of the holy is acceptable.
It should not be. It is not.
It’s something to think about. We should let those who tread on what we
as Catholics revere know that we are offended by their lack of respect. |
