As I prepare for a talk I am to give to grade 8 students who are preparing for Confirmation, I decided to go through my old Confirmation scrapbook. It’s an amazing feeling to rediscover the person you were before and I couldn’t help but laugh at myself when I read my letter to the pastor of my parish.
“One reason I really want to go through with Confirmation is because I want to be closer to God. I want to be closer to God because soon I will be passing grade eight in elementary school and I will go straight to high school for grade 9. In high school there will be a lot of pressure in doing bad things that I do not want to do and the pressure will just grow higher and higher. There are many different characters in high school and I will need all the help I can get. I also need God because high school will also pile homework on top of me. I need help from God to help me keep my strength in completing my homework.”
If only I could revert back to a time where I had a child-like faith and when I thought high school homework was the hardest thing to do.
The Lord does not ask too much of us. Sometimes I think that the Lord piles a lot of weight on my shoulders but sometimes that’s just me piling it on myself. What the Lord asks of us is very simple, He asks us to love Him. That’s it. He doesn’t ask us to conquer the world, but only that we go to Him whenever we feel conquered by it. We must remember that we are children, vulnerable and often foolish. In humility, we must learn to always turn to the Lord in our inequities. Why should we turn to a world that is relentless without mercy when our God is relentlessly merciful? It’s the child-like faith that allows us to trust in our Father without doubt, without fear, and without failure.
Always has the Lord been there for us and always has He shown Himself to us; it is us that forgets the warmth of His embrace. As I browse my Confirmation scrapbook, I am able to witness the ways in my life in which the Lord has guided me. The victory is already won in that the Lord has already claimed my life. The closing prayer is my personal prayer made during my preparation for Confirmation.
By the way, my Confirmation saint is St. Francis Xavier.
Dear God, please give me the strength to live each day to the fullest. Protect those who are dear to me. I believe in only one God. I believe in only one faith. Keep me strong and keep my Catholic Faith alive. My life is to You, my love is to You. Protect my soul and repel me from every evil. Amen.