Adult Initiation & Sacrament Preparation

If you want to have some fun, ask a Catholic (or any Christian) about the Holy Spirit.  The answers you get will likely be as varied as the people you ask.  Our faith is based on a “Trinitarian” view of God:  God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.  As a Church we do quite well teaching about God the Father, and we do an excellent job teaching about Jesus, but when it comes to the Holy Spirit we tend to treat the subject like a “third wheel” or “odd man out.”  We spend so much time learning about God the Father and God the Son that we end up with little time to spend on the Holy Spirit.  Perhaps our readings for this week can help us to better understand the Spirit… The Word for the 6th Sunday of Easter Acts 8:5-8, 14-17 Psalm 66:1-3, 4-5, 6-7, 16, 20 1 Peter 3:15-18 John 14:15-21 For this 6th Sunday of Easter we open with a story from Acts of the Apostles where we hear how Philip has had great success in bringing the Gospel to the people of Samar...

This week we celebrate the end of the Easter Season with the Feast of Pentecost, the remembrance of when the Holy Spirit descends on the Apostles just as Jesus foretold prior to his Ascension (which we celebrated last week). The Word for the Pentecost:         Acts 2:1-11         Psalm 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34         1st Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13 OR Romans 8:8-17         John 20:19-23 OR John 14:15-16, 23b-26 Confirmation, tradition says, is when we receive the Holy Spirit, and gain the gifts of wisdom, understanding, counsel (right judgment), fortitude (courage), knowledge, piety (reverence), Fear of the Lord (awe of God).  Confirmation is our adult “Amen” to our Baptism (which is why adults going through the RCIA receive this Sacrament right after their Baptism).  But how are these gifts manifest in us?  Are we any differe...