-
May 26, 2024During my second pastoral visit to your parish dedicated to Our Lady of Perpetual Help, I have the joy of celebrating the sacrament of confirmation for a group of boys and girls.
Dear young people, I greet you with great joy on this very important day in your life. In fact, with the sacrament of confirmation what began on the day of your baptism comes to completion. From today the parish expects from you a greater commitment towards other children and a more generous availability to taking on various services and ministries in the parish. Together with you I also greet your parents, relatives and friends. I greet the sponsors who will introduce you to the Bishop, and the catechists who have accompanied you in these years of Christian formation.
Furthermore, this is a very beautiful day to celebrate confirmation because it is the first World Day of Children, desired and organized by Pope Francis. The theme of this first world day of Children is taken from the Bible: “Behold, I make all things new”. It is true that every child is a sign of God's newness. Every child is a beautiful gift from God. All children are a great sign of hope that help us look to the future with confidence. Today we remember all the children of the world and pray for them. We remember specially the children who in war zones and who suffer from violence. Let's pray for them. We ask the Lord that every child will always have a family in which they can find peace, love and protection.
Children have the ability to dream and carry great desires in their hearts. Desire for happiness, desire to love and to be loved, desire for friendship. Please, never disappoint children's wishes but we learn from them to be open to the future. In fact, by celebrating the World Day of Children, we are invited to remember that even adults must never stop being children in their hearts. Even after you become dad and mom, do not forget that you are first and foremost children, children of God, loved and wanted.
The mystery of being children then finds a particular light in today's liturgy: this Sunday we celebrate the solemnity of the Holy Trinity. After having experienced the great liturgical seasons of the year, from Advent to Easter and Pentecost, we are now invited to reflect on the Christian face of God: We believe in the Trinity, One God in the perfect unity of three divine Persons. Jesus himself revealed this great mystery to us. He is the Son of God, sent by the Father as our redeemer, who sent us the Holy Spirit. We participate in the life of God, the Trinity of love, by uniting ourselves with Jesus, the Son of God. The Gospel reminds us that we are all children of God because we are baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity. Furthermore, Saint Paul in his letter to the Romans reminds us that with the gift of the Holy Spirit we can all address God by calling him Father.
But what does it really mean to be a child, to be a son or a daughter? It means that we are not in the world by chance, but because we were wanted, loved, chosen, and called to participate in the life of God. Each of you is unique and unrepeatable. Each of you is original and is not a photocopy. You are in this world because the Lord calls you to be children of God and to carry out the mission in the world for which he gave you, his life.
This is why today you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. With baptism you have become children of God, the gift of the Spirit makes you capable of understanding your life in a different way. Your life is a call to happiness, it is a call to love and service. With the gift of the Holy Spirit and with the help of those who are greater in faith (priests, nuns, pastoral workers) you can discover what your mission is and carry it out successfully.
I don't know what your mission will be. Only God knows it. But I am sure that some of you will be called by Jesus to become a priest, to serve the people of God. Others among you will be called by Jesus to leave everything and follow him totally in religious life by becoming a friar or a nun and doing great things like Saint Francis of Assisi or Saint John Bosco or Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Someone among you will become great missionaries and will bring the Gospel where Jesus is not yet known or where he has been forgotten, as Saint Francis Xavier did. Many of you will be called to form a Christian family when you grow up. This too is a beautiful vocation, a very important mission; We need holy parents, holy priests, holy consecrated people.
Finally, today you receive a tau, the crucifix of Saint Francis of Assisi, prepared for you by the Poor Clare sisters in a monastery in Italy. They pray for you. Never forget that there is always someone praying for you.
Dear ones, I now invoke the Holy Spirit upon you, and I will mark your forehead with the sacred chrism. On this World Children's Day, I also want to invoke the Holy Spirit on all children, young people and adults. Behold, I make all things new, says the Lord.
The Gift of the Spirit makes all things new. May the Holy Spirit give you the gift of a profound experience of the youth of the Spirit - Forever young, forever children, forever loved and happy.
