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Today we see clearly the connection between Baptism and Confirmation. In our first reading, it is clear that Baptism has a second sacrament that goes right along with it: Confirmation.
Why? Christ wants to give us the Spirit: “And I will ask the
Father,
and he will give
you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth.”
Christians bear hidden within them a great power, not of their own making or earning or deserving, but a free gift of God. A spirit by which we can do amazing things, both in our lives and the lives of others, if we are faithful to it. If
we want the Holy Spirit to work in our lives, Jesus says today, we must be obedient to His commandments:
Whoever has my commandments and observes them
is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father,
and I will love him and reveal myself to him. (This revelation is only made possible by the Holy Spirit)
Sometimes following the Commandments is difficult, even extremely difficult. We may have our personality get in the way, or our family, or our job, or our culture with all its attempts at intimidating us otherwise. Because of any or all of
these things influencing us, at times we would prefer to underline certain parts of the Bible, or certain parts of the Catechism, and cross out (or ignore) other parts. But Jesus didn’t ask us to keep some of His commandments, or to simply
treasure them in our private or personal lives. No, he wants us to live them, to go and be missionary witnesses of the Resurrection to our world. So we embrace the Lord’s commands even when they mean discomfort to us. For it is better to suffer for doing good,
if that be the will of God, than for doing evil. And luckily, we don’t have to do this alone. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. The Holy Spirit is not a replacement for Jesus. The Holy Spirit brings Jesus
to us (or us to Jesus). It is through Him alone that we are able to connect with Jesus and any of the saints that are in Jesus. Remember, John the Baptist said “I baptize with water; the One who is coming will baptize with the Holy Spirit
and Fire.” That is the baptism we have received, and that is why it is powerful and effective.
Through this great gift of Baptism, we are now united with the same Spirit that empowered the Apostles, the prophets of Old Testament times, the saints and martyrs, and even overshadowed Our Lady that she might conceive of the Holy Spirit. Let us
pray that just as the one Spirit of God comes down upon these gifts of bread and wine and transforms them into Christ, he too may do the same in our lives.
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