Given at Mass with adult Confirmations in Westminster Cathedral on the Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, Saturday 21 January 2017.
My brothers and sisters in Christ, to be confirmed this evening,
The readings from this Sunday’s Mass help us to understand the call of Christ to each one of you and the mission to which he invites you in the sacrament of confirmation. You are called to further God’s kingdom through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and by proclaiming Christ, the light of the nations, to those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.
In the sacrament of confirmation, by the laying on of hands and the anointing with sacred chrism, the Holy Spirit will be bestowed upon you in a new and deeper way; you will be confirmed in your faith and sent out as witnesses to the compassion of Christ in the world.
St Matthew reveals to us the identity of Jesus by helping us understand that he is the fulfilment of the prophecies of Isaiah. As I hear the words of Isaiah in this Gospel, I am reminded of a stained glass window in the great cathedral at Chartres where we see the young St Matthew sitting on the shoulders of the aged prophet Isaiah. This window also reminds me of the way in which our faith rests on the shoulders of those who have gone before us and handed it onto us. By your confirmation as full members of the Church, you will have a deeper responsibility to hand it onto others.
After his baptism in the river Jordan and his temptations in the desert, Jesus returns to Nazareth and then moves and settles in Capernaum. At that time Capernaum was a thriving town with a strong fishing industry and situated on the great Roman trade route, the Via Maris, linking Damascus and Egypt and beyond. It was a border town of the frontiers of the historical lands of the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali. By Jesus’ time, it was situated on the borders of the lands of Herod Antipas and Philip his brother. It was place of trade, fishing, tax collectors, sinners, and often a place of very shady business.
Jesus preaches to the people who are attracted to him and calls them to repent. He shepherds them with the gift of his abundant mercy. They are invited to put on a new heart and a new mind and return to the ways of God. He calls individuals by name to follow him, Simon Peter, James and John. Later he will call the tax collector Matthew who sat at the border post by the river Jordan near Capernaum.
Today, he calls each one of you to follow him more nearly and, through baptism, gives you the grace to grow more dearly in love of him who has loved you first. Those of you to be confirmed this evening have heard his voice resonating deeply within your hearts and are now taking the next step. You are invited to conform your lives closely to that of Christ, who came to serve rather than to be served. You will receive the Holy Spirit to strengthen you with his gifts and help you to be his witnesses to shine like lights in a darkened world. Although you can receive this sacrament only once, you have the responsibility each day to respond to the gifts of the Holy Spirit in prayer and grow in love of God and your neighbour.
As full members of the Church, you are called to build unity wherever you may be. St Paul, when he writes to the Church in Corinth, stresses the need to build unity within the Church and between people. He faces a community that has separated into competing factions who unite around different leaders: Apollos, Cephas, Paul, and who thereby split the community. This is always a danger in the Church because the devil will always try to sow the seeds of discontent if a community is doing the work of God and thriving in faith and love. St Paul reminds them that they must gaze upon the face of Christ and participate in his paschal mystery. He calls you to be servants of one another and to bear the cross for the sake of the Gospel.
At Pentecost, the apostles were empowered by the Holy Spirit; their fear was changed into courage, and they were sent out to do the Father’s will. Today, you too will be changed, sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit, and brought into a new relationship with the merciful Father and Jesus Christ who is present to you and walks with you.
The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit will be given to you to enable you to be witnesses to the goodness of Christ in the midst of all your activities, relationships, families and places of work so that by your word and action you will proclaim to others the hope that is in your hearts. As Pope Francis wrote:
Every Christian is challenged, here and now, to be actively engaged in evangelisation… Every Christian is a missionary to the extent that he or she has encountered the love of God in Christ Jesus: we no longer say that we are ‘disciples’ and ‘missionaries’, but rather that we are always ‘missionary disciples’. If we are not convinced, let us look at those first disciples, who, immediately after encountering the gaze of Jesus, went forth to proclaim him joyfully: ‘We have found the Messiah!’ (Jn 1:41). The Samaritan woman became a missionary immediately after speaking with Jesus and many Samaritans come to believe in him ‘because of the woman’s testimony’ (Jn 4:39). So too, Saint Paul, after his encounter with Jesus Christ, ‘immediately proclaimed Jesus’ (Acts 9:20; cf. 22:6-21). So what are we waiting for?” (EG 120)
The Holy Spirit inspires, purifies and strengthens those noble longings by which we strive to make earthly life more human. In a particular way you are called to defend, honour and protect the marriage and the family. The family is the sanctuary of life where life is to be nurtured, protected and sustained (AL83). For those of you soon to be married, treasure this great gift and ask the Holy Spirit, daily in your prayer, to deepen the meaning of this sacrament within your hearts as you witness to love and service in the world. Imitate the love of Jesus since ‘All family life is a “shepherding” in mercy [and] each of us, by our love and care, leaves a mark on the lives of others”’ (AL 322).
I wish to highlight the need for one particular gift of the Holy Spirit, that is, the gift of fortitude or courage. This gift helps you to carry the actions that you know are right and good. This gift makes people martyrs for the Christian faith and helps them become saints. This gift enables you to stand out in the midst of the crowd, proclaim the message of Christ, share his mercy with others and witness to his compassionate love to those around you.
As you now renew the promises of your baptism, pray for this gift as well as the others so that you may be faithful witnesses of Christ, leaven for the common good of all people and reflect the light of Christ into the lives of people who live in darkness and the shadow of death.