Tounges Of Fire, Men Of Courage

Confirmation - The Gift of the Holy Spirit

Confirmation

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a talk by Michael J. Spoula

At the time of Pentecost which was a feast in which the Jewish nation celebrated the handing down of the Ten Commandments to Moses, we find our heroes all sitting in the same place. My Bible includes the foot note “probably praying.” I guess that there were reasons to think that they were praying, and maybe they were. Perhaps they were praying for God to reveal to them what they were supposed to do now. Look at this group of very ordinary people. Put yourself in their place. The last few months have changed their lives forever. First, they tasted the bitter pill of complete defeat and watched while evil triumphed and Jesus, whom they thought was the Christ, died on the cross, a most horrible and shameful way to die. Then they experienced the ineffable joy of

the Resurrection, they had Jesus

among them again. Perhaps the time for the triumph of Israel had arrived! They thought that they were beginning to understand, but they did not understand. They had already been commissioned to go throughout the whole world to preach the Gospel, and yet they were all gathered in one place, basically doing nothing. I think that they simply didn’t know where to begin. They were afraid and not without cause. So they were sitting around, probably discussing ad nauseam different plans to get the message out.

When in doubt, talk it out. Safe behind closed doors they could

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seemingly make progress without taking risk. I don’t want it to seem that I am being unfair. The fact that they were sitting around, trying to blend into the wood work makes what happened next even more miraculous. Suddenly there came a noise like a strong driving wind. This great wind herald a new action of God. The noise was great and filled the entire house where they were at. An where they were at was the upper room, which is symbolic of going up to Mount Sinai as Moses did. Tongues of fire came to rest on each of them, and the fire symbolized the presence of God. Think of other times God was portrayed with fire. There an angel of the LORD appeared to him in fire flaming out of a bush. As he looked on, he was surprised to see that the bush, though on fire, was not consumed. So Moses decided, "I must go over to look at this remarkable sight, and see why the bush is not burned."

When the LORD saw him coming over to look at it more closely, God called

out to him from the bush, "Moses! Moses!" He answered, "Here I am." God said, "Come no nearer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. I am the God of your father," he continued, "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob." Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. But the LORD said, "I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry of complaint against their slave drivers, so I know well what they are suffering. Therefore I have come down to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians and lead them out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk & honey…

And of course God led the Jews out of Egyptian bondage in a pillar of

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smoke by day and a pillar of fire by night. (Exodus 13:21-22) And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night; 22 the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.

So we can see that the tongues of fire are the visual representation of God. What happened next is quite amazing. These humble fishermen left the place where they were at. And the place was no ordinary place, it was in the upper room. This was the place where Jesus sat and gave us his Body and Blood. God had already done something new in this place. So we hear a great rush of wind which heralds a new action of God. Fire appears and came to rest on each one of them. Then these people who moments ago were sitting around and doing basically nothing get up and in that moment the Church is born. They began to fearlessly preach the Word of God in places where just moments before they were afraid to be seen. Each person in the crown heard what was being said in their own language proving that the church’s mission was not to a preach Christ to just a few people in a small backwater of the Roman empire, but to everyone.

And Peter boldly

proclaims Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah and tells all the good news that

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death itself had been defeated by the resurrection. He then tells them just what to do, repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. At the start of the day the church numbered the eleven apostles and a few miscellaneous women. At the close of the day three thousand people were baptized. All of this because the Holy Spirit infused these somewhat ordinary men. The Holy Spirit makes it possible for men and women to overcome our human frailties. He brings us many gifts. But before we get into them, a story: Maximilian Kolbe was a priest during World War II.

He was an amazing

man in that he spearheaded his order’s use of modern media. He helped publish books and pamphlets and helped run a daily Catholic news paper that had a daily circulation of 230,000.

In September 1939 the Nazi

juggernaut invaded Poland and launched the war. Maximilian along with a number of his fellow priests and brothers were arrested and sent to Auschwitz death camp. He was considered healthy enough to be worked to death by the SS slave masters so he was not sent immediately to the gas chambers. He was put to work and it was very hard work indeed. Kolbe did his share and more. He remained a man of prayer and faith. Now, one thing you learned early in the death camps was to blend into the woodwork. Every book I have read about survivors in the camps shows that each survivor made themselves useful to their keepers and blended into the background, not calling attention to themselves. Some of the survivors had to become more zealous then their captors in

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enforcing the camps rules. Maximilian did not do this. One day there was an

escape from Maximilian’s barracks. The commandant was livid. He would be punished for letting a prisoner escape. He thus decided to punish the prisoners for allowing the escape. He chose ten men at random from the barracks and condemned them to death by starvation in the camp dungeon. One man cried and begged for mercy. The SS were not known for being merciful men. Maximilian had not been slated to die, but with extraordinary courage he asked if he could take the place of the crying man. The SS was surprised but allowed Maximilian to take the man’s place. They were led away to the dungeon. They were given no food or water and one by one they died. Finally Maximilian was the only one left. On August 14, 1941, tired of waiting, they administered a fatal injection to Father Kolbe. This man followed the Gospel until the very end of his life. He worked hard for the Lord and when push came to shove, he showed great love by giving his life for another. This marvelous selfless act was done because he allowed the Holy Spirit to work in and with him. The holy spirit gives us the courage to be a follower of Christ.

Another story: Dorothy Day was born in Brooklyn on November 8, 1897. After surviving the 1906 earthquake her family moved into a tenement flat

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on Chicago’s South Side. Dorothy today is being considered for sainthood. It is an amazing thing because this is a woman who early in life lived in sin with a man and even had an abortion. She was sent to jail on several occasions. Her move to Chicago allowed her to have a sympathy for the ordinary person leading an ordinary life. At the start of World War I, she signed up for nurses training. She was not yet a Catholic but she liked the Catholic way of life. She became convinced of the existence of God. After having a baby conceived in a common law marriage she entered the Catholic church in December 1927. As a reporter during the depression she witnessed the pain of poverty that was touching many people. She prayed for a way to make her talents work for the poor. She met up with Peter Maurin. Peter and Dorothy worked at organizing a paper - the Catholic Worker. Peter often wrote that each home should have a Christ Room where strangers could be given comfort and rest as they were ambassadors of God. They started houses that helped the poor. They were opposed because “the deserving poor” were not the only ones that they would help. Their homes were opened to anyone in need - including drunkards and good for nothings. A social worker once asked how long the poor could stay. Day answered “We let them stay forever. They live with us they die with us and we give them a Christian burial. We pray for them after they are dead. Once they are taken

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in, they become members of the family. They are our brothers and sisters in Christ. She was also quoted as saying when someone told her that Jesus said we would have the poor with us always, her reply was “Yes but we are not content that there should be so many of them. The class structure is our making and by our consent, and not God’s and we must do what we can to change it.” She also took some unpopular stands in opposing wars. She took literally Christ’s words; “Put away your sword, for whoever lives by the sword shall perish by the sword.” In 1936 Francisco Franco, proclaimed himself the defender of the Catholic faith in Spain. Day looked beyond the obvious and saw the background and told people to “take another look at events in Nazi Germany.” She accurately predicted persecution of the Jews. After World War II, she opposed drilling for civil defense. She was sent to jail every year at the time the drill was held. She said “We don’t have faith in God if we depend on the atom bomb.” She was greatly in favor of civil rights and once in 1957 she went to the community in rural Georgia where blacks and whites lived peacefully together. One house had been hit by machine gun fire and the KKK burned crosses on the communities land. She was almost shot by a passing car, ducking down - the bullet went and hit the steering column of her car. She spurned honors and once a certain Mother Theresa of Calcutta came to visit

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her and pinned a profession cross on her dress. This is a cross worn only by professed sisters of Mother Theresa’s order, the Missionary Sisters of Charity. One of her most famous sayings is “If I have achieved anything in my life it is because I have not been embarrassed to talk about God. Another life, so very different then Kolbe’s and yet so alike. They both in their own way sacrificed their lives for others. They overcame the natural instinct for survival and depended on God.

So we become Christians when we are drowned at Baptism. The Sacrament of Confirmation completes the sacrament of Baptism. It enables us to be more perfectly bound to the Church. When you are confirmed you are anointed with oil. Oil is a sign of abundance and joy. It cleanses and limbers muscles and is a sign of healing when used on wounds. The oil used in the confirmation rite is not the same as in the baptism rite. The oil used is chrism which is also used to anoint a priests hands. Those anointed with chrism share more completely in the mission of Christ.

This anointing impresses a seal on the soul so

confirmation is only received once. This seal is shows that the soul of the anointed is owned by the Holy Spirit. The effects of Confirmation are many. y It roots us more deeply with God so we can cry Abba - Daddie

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y It roots us more deeply to Christ y It increases the gifts of the Holy Sprit in us. y It renders our bond with the Church more perfect. y It gives us a special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and action as true witnesses of Christ, to confess the name of Christ boldly, and to never be ashamed of the cross. Just what are the gifts of the holy Spirit? Wisdom - desire for the things of God, and to direct our whole life and all our actions to His honor and glory. Understanding - enable us to know more clearly the mysteries of faith Counsel - warn us of the deceits of the devil, and of the dangers to salvation Fortitude - strengthen us to do the will of God in all things Knowledge - enable us to discover the will of God in all things Piety - love God as a Father, and obey Him because we love Him Fear of the Lord - have a dread of sin and fear of offending God If we look at the lives of the saints, and a saint is nothing more then a person who developed a great desire to love God with their whole heart, their whole mind and their whole soul, we will find in each of them these gifts at work. These gifts are not only for “saints” they are for “sinners” too. For as we can see in the case of Dorothy Day, sinners are many times people who have

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not yet undergone conversion. When I was in the monastery it was my honor to prepare a seventh grade class for confirmation. I remember saying to one of the brothers that I was going to tell the students that they might not feel any different after receiving the sacrament. He told me that I should not say anything of the sort for I could not know what effect the sprit would have on them. To this day, I believe that this was some of the wisest advice I had ever received. When you are confirmed the Holy Spirit is going to come upon you just as it did for the apostles at Pentecost. My advice to you is to accept the gifts of the Holy Spirit and be ready for anything. We may never be asked to die for the faith as the early martyrs were. We are only asked to live the faith as best as we can. God has provided this wonderful gift of Confirmation to help us. He has provided seven spiritual gifts to strengthen us. This great sacrament completes Baptism and makes us as they said in the old church, soldiers for Christ. Forward….March.