On Sunday, we celebrate Pentecost, the day when the Apostles received the Holy Spirit, shed their fear, and began proclaiming the Name of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, for the world’s salvation. From Pentecost forward, the Holy Spirit has continued to build, animate, and sanctify the Church.

Just as the Holy Spirit was given to the Apostles at Pentecost, so, too, the fullness of the Holy Spirit is given to God’s People through their successors, the bishops, in the Sacrament of Confirmation. In a very real sense, this is what gives me the greatest joy in confirming so many young people through the course of the year. As a successor to the Apostles, I am both humbled and privileged to impart to them the fullness of the Holy Spirit by the prayer of the Church, the laying on of hands, and, most especially, anointing them with chrism.

Through the sacramental signs of Confirmation, our young people share in a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit, like that of Pentecost. This effusion of the Holy Spirit impresses on the soul an indelible character or “seal” (thus, the essential words of Confirmation, “Be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit”). This sign or seal remains, at least until death, even if a confirmed person should fall into mortal sin. It permanently signifies a special relationship to Christ who, in the power of the Holy Spirit, seeks to transform our inmost being and our personalities, our character, so that we may live as active and fruitful members of His Body, the Church.

Through Confirmation, the grace of Baptism is perfected. Via Baptism and the frequent reception of the Eucharist, those being confirmed are already initiated into the Church.

As I confirm our young people, I pray that their faith will not fail; that they will not face the immense challenges of growing toward maturity alone, cut off from the sacraments and the support of a community of faith; that parents and godparents will model for them what it means to be a true practicing Catholic. And I pray that they will have both the insight and the freedom, both gifts of the Holy Spirit, to know God’s will for their lives and to find happiness in doing it.

In this time of Pentecost, when the Sacrament of Confirmation is being celebrated so abundantly around the Diocese, I offer three challenges which are also invitations:

First, I invite the newly-confirmed to join youth groups in their parishes and otherwise to seek ways of remaining involved in your parishes. Inasmuch as you allow the Holy Spirit to work in your hearts, you will find your way to the Sacraments: Mass every Sunday and the regular reception of the Sacrament of Penance.

Second, I invite and encourage parents to lead by example by daily prayer, continued reflection on the Church’s faith, and, above all, fidelity to Sunday Mass and the Sacrament of Penance.

Third, even if you were confirmed years ago but have lapsed in the practice of the faith, allow the Spirit to stir up His gifts in your hearts so that you may find your way to the company of believers, the Church, and grow in holiness as a follower of Christ.

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful!