|
Bishops' Schedules:
Bishop Robert C. Morlino
Thursday, June 13, 2004 -- Saturday, June 20, 2004
Attend United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Meeting, Denver, Colo.
Bishop George O. Wirz, Bishop Emeritus
Thursday, June 10, 2004
10:00 a.m. -- Attend Clergy Inservice, Bishop O'Connor Catholic Pastoral Center, Madison
|
|
|
|
Between Easter and Labor Day, Bishop Morlino's column will continue on an other than weekly basis.
|
Confirmation:
God is one who does initiating -- not us, says bishop
By Julianne Nornberg
CATHOLIC HERALD STAFF
MADISON -- Confirmation is a sacrament of initiation in which the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit initiate a young person into the fullness of the church. It is not a sacrament of Christian or Catholic adulthood.
This is one of the messages Bishop Robert C. Morlino told youth ministers from parishes throughout the Diocese of Madison at a recent gathering at the Bishop O'Connor Catholic Pastoral Center.
Theology of sacrament
Bishop Morlino talked about the theology of confirmation.
"The theology of confirmation is rooted in the truth that confirmation is a sacrament of initiation," he said, explaining that there are three kinds of sacraments: the sacraments of initiation, which are baptism, First Communion, and confirmation; the sacraments of healing, which are penance and anointing of the sick; and the sacraments of vocation, which are marriage and holy orders.
"Confirmation is not a sacrament of Christian or Catholic adulthood," he said. "It is not the occasion when high school students who don't like authority should be asked: you were baptized as a baby - now you can confirm your baptism or not.
"Some young women or men have the idea that it is focused on the freedom to say 'yes' or 'no' to authority. You can guess what they are tempted to say. We want to steer away from that."
We need to understand - and teach - whose initiative it is to call us into confirmation: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, he said. "If God called me into salvation in Christ, then it is God's will that I be confirmed."
It is possible for a young woman or man to not be ready for confirmation, but that's different from saying, "I won't be ready," said the bishop. "God has chosen you - You haven't chosen Him. If you're not ready now, maybe another time."
We must remember that the true initiator of the sacraments is God.
"Our free response is crucial. It's a sin to force someone into a sacrament," he said.
He explained that he confirms students between seventh and 12th grades because if first penance, confirmation, and First Communion are all done at once, the youth may not truly understand how many sacraments they are receiving.
"Theologically it makes sense, but how much catechesis can you do?" he said, noting that you have to have catechesis for penance. You have to know that grace is salvation from sin, that we are coming looking for Jesus as a moment of abundant grace because of sin, he said.
Pouring of Holy Spirit
Confirmation is a pouring of the Holy Spirit unto strength, he said.
Confirmation - needed only once - imprints an indelible seal on the soul, said Bishop
Morlino. "The bishop says, 'Be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit.' That means the Holy Spirit rushes onto the soul of the young person and changes them unto strength."
He said one thing to tell students is: "On the day of confirmation, you will be different. You will be changed unto strength."
"Tell them if they are willing to let the Holy Spirit change them, they will be changed at the deepest level unto strength by the Holy Spirit," he said. "It is mystical. Young people look for mysticism. The most mystical thing is the Mass. We're human. Jesus Christ knew the body was sacred, not to be escaped from to have union with God. Jesus Christ came and gave us the sacrament of the Eucharist. You have to eat his body, drink his blood, or not have life within you. If they want mysticism, we've got it."
The bishop explained that the strength they receive means seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. It's a full kind of strength including:
• Wisdom to know God is God and they're not. "That's the bedrock of all wisdom," he said.
• Understanding that God wants to save the world through the church; that Jesus Christ is the only name given to people by which they ought to be saved; that every human has
dignity in Christ whether they believe in him or not.
"The gift of understanding means 'I see the dignity of every human. I have to treat them that way, respect their conscience as they follow it,'" he said. "At the same time I have to understand their full joy is to be found only in Christ. Our hearts are restless 'til they rest in Christ."
We're trying to offer them the best gift their humanity could receive, Bishop Morlino said. "The Holy Father said the truth wins out always by its own gentle power. Christ is not an idea. He's not a theory. He's a real person who changes people. Our deepest joy is to meet him."
• Right judgment: To judge what is truly right and truly wrong in a world that says
right and wrong are really blurred.
"Our conscience is obligated to seek the truth and obey it," said the bishop. "Our conscience is like a radar looking for truth to hold onto. The radar screen does not make up what's on it. It detects what's out there."
• Courage, "because if you're going to acknowledge God is God and you are not, and no
other name but Jesus, follow the teachings of Christ, and not see everything as grey, then you need courage. That courage comes from the union with God through Christ and the Holy Spirit," he said.
• Knowledge and reverence. "To know God is to have reverence for Him and every person he created and for the creation He entrusted to us; knowing God not as theory, but as a person, being in union with Him, especially at the Eucharist," he said.
In a question and answer session, Bishop Morlino emphasized that God is the one who is doing the initiating - we are not.
"The point is not what I chose, but what God chose. You have the grace to accept that from the Holy Spirit; you don't have help to reject it," he said.
|
