Sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit

St. Therese Parish hosts bishop, who celebrates first sacrament of confirmation Mass

By Dan McWilliams

Bishop Mark Beckman celebrated the sacrament of confirmation for the first time as shepherd of the Church in East Tennessee on Nov. 23 at St. Therese Church in Clinton as three young people of the parish were sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The confirmation Mass fell on the feast of Christ the King.

“I can’t think of a better feast on which to be confirmed, other than maybe Pentecost, because we’re focused on Christ the Lord and His kingship, and in a sense in our baptism, in our confirmation, each of us is claimed by Christ the King to be part of His kingdom and to help spread the kingdom,” Bishop Beckman said after Mass.

Deacon Peter Chiaro of St. Therese assisted at Mass, and pastor Father Dennis Kress was in attendance.

The bishop said he found the confirmation Mass “to be very moving” as he celebrated the sacrament in the small parish of about 100 families.

“To be in a beautiful small community like this and to have only three candidates for confirmation, where I could get to know each of them and speak directly to each of the three of them, that meant a lot to me,” he said.

The confirmed youths, siblings Regan and Ryan Keller and Ben Helus, told Bishop Beckman about themselves in letters written to him in the weeks leading up to the Mass. The bishop addressed each youth about his or her letters during the Mass.

“They each wrote me beautiful letters, telling me what they were interested in,” the bishop said. “I was able to speak to each one of them about the letters they wrote me, and I was very touched by that.”

The rite of confirmation began when Deacon Chiaro presented the candidates to Bishop Beckman.

The candidates proclaimed the readings at Mass and would later serve as gift bearers.

“This evening, I want to take a moment to acknowledge the presence of those three of you who are going to be confirmed,” the bishop said as he began his homily. “I’m very impressed at what you did at the lectern tonight, proclaiming God’s Word. I had to do that when I was in the eighth grade,” he said, adding that the youths displayed “great courage and witness in terms of your faith.”

The second reading at Mass was from Revelation 1.

“We heard the words of Jesus in the Book of Revelation: ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ the first and the last, the beginning and the end,” Bishop Beckman said.

The bishop then pointed out the connection between the lighting of the paschal candle with the light given to parents as their child is baptized.

“Every single Easter vigil, as we’re getting ready to celebrate the vigil of Easter, we take the Easter candle, which is right over here, I notice, in the church tonight, and we mark that alpha, the first letter of the Greek alphabet, as a symbol of Christ the Lord, on the paschal candle, and then we mark the omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end,” Bishop Beckman said.

“And as we’re preparing that candle, we remark that all time belongs to Him and all of the ages, and after we have prepared the candle, of course, we light the great light of Easter vigil, and the Easter candle is lit and carried into the darkened church that night. And from that single flame, the faithful who are baptized are invited to light tapers until the entire church is filled with candlelight. How many of you all have had the experience of being at an Easter vigil?” the bishop asked and then saw a great number of hands raised. “Oh, lots of you. I love that.”

Bishop Beckman said it is “profound to experience that gift.”

“And one of the things that strikes me every year is the Church where I had been pastor, we had totally darkened—no candles or lights of any sort,” he continued. “That single flame, representing Christ, the light of the world, it’s amazing how a giant darkened church is illuminated by that single flame. And then the deacon sings, ‘The light of Christ.’ And everyone sings, ‘Thanks be to God’ three times. And when the entire church is filled with light, then the great Exsultet begins.”

The feast day reminds the Church who “is our true King,” the bishop said.

“He is the Lord who reigns over all the universe. He is the king of all the rulers of the earth, as the Book of Revelation puts it beautifully,” he said. “His light, His kingship, is what all of us are invited to be part of. And when we are claimed in baptism, we’re chosen by Christ in a very unique and a very particular way to spread His light in the world.

“Ryan and Regan, when your parents brought you to the waters of baptism, and Ben, when you were brought to the waters of baptism, that very Easter candle which we light every Easter would have been used in that baptismal liturgy, and the priest or deacon who did your baptism would have taken a small taper and lit it from that Easter candle and handed it to your parents and godparents.

“And the prayer is something like this: ‘Dear parents and godparents, this light is entrusted to you to be kept burning brightly. This child of yours has been enlightened by Christ and is always to walk as a child of the light. May she or he keep the flame of faith alive in his heart, and when the Lord comes, may he go out to meet Him with all the saints in the heavenly kingdom.’ That’s the call of a Christian: enlightened by Christ, we bear the light of Christ to everyone in the world.”

Bishop Beckman then spoke to the confirmation candidates individually.

“Now, Ben, I know you love astronomy—you love the stars at night. You go out on a beautiful dark night and you see all those stars filling the darkened sky. Well, you’re called to be like that. You’re called to be a star in the world, to let God’s light shine through you,” he said. “Regan, I know you’ve been eager about your faith journey. You chose to say yes again to your baptismal call. That’s why you’re here to be confirmed tonight. Your yes to the Lord is also very personal.

“And Ryan, you’re part of something you pointed out that is universal in your letter to me: catholic. We do belong to this body of believers that speaks every language of humanity in every continent and country, and this mystery has been unfolding for 2,000 years. The beautiful gift of light that you received—the Lord wants you to share. And every one of us is called to do it in our own unique way. We all have a particular vocation in life. The Lord depends upon you and me to be that light in the world. You’re part of the kingdom of Christ, the light of the world, the alpha, the omega, the beginning and end.”

The candidates’ baptismal call would be sealed, the bishop said, “with the gift of the Holy Spirit in the sacrament of confirmation. A beautiful, beautiful gift, through the laying on of hands and through the sealing of your forehead with sacred chrism in the sign of the cross. And as the Lord Jesus said on the night of Easter Sunday, ‘Peace be with you,’ so after you’re confirmed, I will say to each of you, ‘Peace be with you.’ That’s the desire of the Lord, that that peace might remain with you, that you might be beautiful witnesses in the world.”

Bishop Beckman thanked the youths’ parents, godparents, and proxies, “those who helped form you in the faith and indeed this entire parish community and your pastor and your pastors through the years who have done such good work in shaping this people of God. Tonight, the Lord is saying to us again, ‘I have claimed you for myself. Be my light in the world.’”

Before they were confirmed, the candidates renewed their baptismal promises as the bishop asked, “Do you renounce Satan and all of his works and empty promises? Do you believe in God, the Father almighty, the creator of heaven and of earth? Do you believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, Our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered death and was buried, rose again from the dead, and is seated at the right hand of the Father? Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who today through the sacrament of confirmation is given to you in a special way, just as He was given to the Apostles on the day of Pentecost? Do you believe in the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting?”

Each youth responded “I do” to the questions.

“This is our faith. This is the faith of the Church, and we are proud to profess it in Christ Jesus our Lord,” Bishop Beckman said.

The congregation then stood and prayed along with the bishop.

“Almighty God, Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, who brought these your servants to new birth by water and the Holy Spirit, bring them from sin,” he said. “Send upon them, O Lord, the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete. Give them a spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and piety. Fill them with the spirit of the fear of the Lord through Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Ryan chose the confirmation name St. Matthew, and Regan chose St. Teresa of Avila. Ben chose St. Dominic. The bishop, as he confirmed the youths, addressed them by the saint’s name and said, “Be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit. Peace be with you.”

After the confirmations, Bishop Beckman led the congregation in a round of applause for the youths.

In his closing remarks, the bishop thanked Father Kress “for the great pastoral work in shepherding this faith community. What a great community of prayer this is. And our ministers of music, how beautiful. St. Augustine said a song is a thing of joy and love, and you certainly lifted our hearts in joy and love this evening.

Bishop Beckman asked all the young people in attendance to be open to the call of a priestly, diaconal, or religious vocation.

“Those of you who are newly confirmed, and to the young persons who are surrounding us tonight: our altar servers as well as our deacons and their great diaconal ministry, I want to say a word because it may be that you, one of you or another of you, may be called by the Lord to be a priest or to be a religious or perhaps even to be a deacon,” he said. “Be open to wherever the call of the Lord may lead you in life.”

That call can lead to “a deep happiness,” the bishop said, “as many of our priests and deacons and religious Sisters have discovered. For all of you for faithfully living your vocations, those of you committed Christians in single life or married, thank you for the gift of your vocation as well tonight. All of these vocations are fruits of the Holy Spirit, are they not? It is the work of God.”

Julie and Travis Keller are the parents of Regan and Ryan.

“We were honored that this is the bishop’s first confirmation and that he came here because our parish is very small, and we were very honored that he was here,” Mrs. Keller said, noting that her children were “excited” to be confirmed.

“They were a little nervous because they were participating in the Mass” as readers and gift bearers, she said. “They were looking forward to it. They were just really excited to be part of the Mass and not just passively.”

Ben’s parents are Scott and Dena Helus.

Patricia Owczarzak is Regan’s sponsor, and Michael Jordan, a cousin, is Ryan’s sponsor. Ben’s brother, Carl, is his sponsor.

Deacon Chiaro is director of religious education at St. Therese, but he credited Roslyn Hanson for preparing the confirmandi.

“I was part of the team but not as much as Ms. Ros,” he said.

Deacon Chiaro said it was “absolutely wonderful” to have Bishop Beckman visit the church.

“We’re truly blessed. He’s a very nice and kind man. He seems very soft-spoken. It’s just great. He’s very pastoral.”