MADISON — “To be confirmed is not simply a ceremony,” said Bishop Donald J. Hying of Madison said to the 26 adults who were confirmed this past Pentecost Sunday, May 23.
“It’s not something we simply check off on a list and say, ‘Okay, I’ve done another Catholic thing.’ Rather it’s an experience of the power of God so that we are fully equipped to go into the world and give witness to Christ.”
Confirmation Mass
The Adult Confirmation Mass was held at St. Dennis in Madison and was livestreamed on the parish website.
Those in attendance were the candidates for Confirmation, their sponsors, and members of their family.
Drew Kellogg, a 21-year-old from St. Dennis Parish, stated that he’d been Baptized and had received his first Holy Communion but never got Confirmed in high school.
“I just had to take advantage because it’s always been something that I’ve wanted to do deep down,” he said.
“This is the first time as a diocese we’ve had one common Mass for adults who simply haven’t been confirmed,” said Bishop Hying during his homily. “How beautiful it is to see people from all over the diocese — every corner of the diocese — to be here on this Pentecost Sunday . . . to receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit.”
The Mass was offered in English and in Spanish, with translations projected onto the walls. Some of the hymns alternated between English and Spanish verses and the second reading was read in Spanish.
Bishop Hying also gave some closing remarks at the end of the Mass in Spanish.
Connected with Pentecost
During his homily, Bishop Hying connected the events at Pentecost — when the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles to aid them in preaching the Gospel — with the reception of the Sacrament.
Stating that every single person stepping forward to be confirmed likely could share their own story as to what led them to this moment, he said, “I can’t help but think that for every single one of you, it is the sense that Jesus Christ has become increasingly real in your life, that God is not simply a beautiful idea.”
At the end of his homily, he told those about to be confirmed, “I exhort you to always be active in the Church.”
He stressed the importance of attending and participating in Mass on Sunday and Holy Days of Obligation and the importance of keeping a regular prayer life.
“We live in a world that in many ways has lost its way, because we do not keep our eyes fixed on Jesus fully,” he said.
“It is in that world that you are sent to be light, to be salt, to be Christ for others.”
At the end of his homily, he stated that “Jesus gives you today the fullness of his Holy Spirit, the deepest part of himself. He invites you to give him the deepest part of yourself, your soul, your heart, your life, and it is in that giving and receiving that this eternal relationship of salvation is sealed in the very power of the Holy Spirit.”