Next Sunday Bishop Hanchon will celebrate the 10:00 am parish mass and will confirm our six candidates. I invite the rest of the parish to keep these young people in prayer this week, especially this Friday evening when they will have a special prayer vigil to help them prepare spiritually to be confirmed.
Confirmation is the third and final sacrament of initiation, the first two being Baptism and first Eucharist. Our six youth will be considered fully initiated into our faith. However they, like the rest of us, are still on a journey to arrive at the fuller maturity of faith. It is my prayer that these six young people will continue the practice of faith, along with their families and the entire parish family.
Baptism, Eucharist and Confirmation contain untapped graces which take a life-time to mature. Participants in our ChristLife program are being renewed in the undiscovered graces of these sacraments. As we witness our young people's confirmation, let us ask the Lord to renew our whole parish in the Holy Spirit.
Thank you for your generosity to the St. Vincent de Paul Society last weekend. Our young conference is doing great work on behalf of those in need here in Southfield, thanks to your generous support.