Finding Time!

As with everything else in life, I started my blogging thinking (optimistically!) that I would have plenty of time to make entries on a daily basis. Then "Life" (with a capital L) intervened to bring me back to reality. Parenting three active growing children these days isn't quite as easy as it seems when I think back to my own childhood. Somehow it seemed so much slower and easier then than it is now!

In the midst of the flurry that is our daily existence, we had a remarkable breath of fresh air last weekend! Our oldest received an important sacrament last Saturday when he was confirmed in our church. As the leader of his confirmation preparation team, I walked with my ten students through the two year process and felt that last Saturday, we were walking through a door into a new chapter of their lives. At the outset of this preparation, I was concerned that several of my students were not spiritually ready for confirmation. I even mentioned that I thought my group was the "challenge group" because some of them did not seem serious about their faith at all. I've learned, however, that the Lord does indeed work in mysterious ways! As we worked our way through the program, I felt such frustration but kept praying for my students. My prayers were answered in a large part on the evening of our team interview with one of our priests. Virtually all of my students were able to answer the questions reasonably well and some even surprised me with the intuitiveness of their answers! It was very obvious to me that the confirmation booklet which was prepared with great care by our pastor and which required the confirmandi to work through the booklet with their families. It certainly is truly amazing what communication can do to grow the faith of both confirmandi and parents!

The actual Confirmation and the subsequent reception were spiritually uplifting! The military bishop, Bishop Higgins, was a delight -- he had such empathy with the young confirmandi. The Confirmation Mass was perfect and all those with whom I've spoken expressed how wonderful the day was! Our parish has been working towards making our young people feel part of the church community and the Confirmation reaped the rewards of this effort. Many of us remember feeling that Confirmation was the end of a process -- our group is aware that this is the opening of a new part of their spiritual lives where they will take a more active part in their church community and continue to grow their faith.