When I was in eighth grade I received the sacrament of
confirmation. My friend Grace and I were
not what one would call ideal Sunday school students. We spent most of our time passing fake notes
between the school desks and talking with one another and our friend
Katie. We were not crazy rebels, but we
were also not angels in any sense. When
we arrived on the confirmation retreat the confirmation director thought that
if she placed us in small positions of leadership this would amend our
attitudes. We ended up getting an entire
group of girls lost in the woods for an hour and then making fun remarks
throughout the entire morality talk under our breaths.
We made it to the night of our confirmation nonetheless, and
I can still remember feeling that the mass was one I would not forget; it had a
special feeling to it. That night I took
the name of Elizabeth Ann Seton as my confirmation saint, the patroness of
Catholic Schools in America. Since then
I have attended catholic high school, the University of Notre Dame, and am
currently mentoring teens attending catholic high schools in Honduras after a
year of teaching at the finca’s own catholic elementary school. I cannot explain it, but this sacrament has
stuck around with me in a very special way.
This past weekend a local youth group leader asked Nils and
I if we would talk on the diocese’s confirmation retreat about the themes of
commitment to service and faith. We both
decided it sounded like a good idea, so we said yes. I could only laugh as I saw several teens
texting while I spoke, while others rolled their eyes. Most listened well and seemed to really hear
our message. I personally am pulling the
for distracted ones, if history repeats itself, they may have a future in
service mission work with children and teens in the future.
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