Mary Adamski: Sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit

VIEW FROM THE PEW

School’s out, school’s out, teacher let the students out. It’s graduation time with all the flourishes and flowers, and for other scholars, a break from the discipline and demands, homework and goals and tests. It’s still a vivid happy memory for a lot of adults like me — the bell rang and you ran out the door. What relief, whether you were a star or just squeaked by, it was a happy, healthy thing to complete something and take a break to energize for the next round.

Sorry to say it’s not always a relief, is it? If you are working parents, it’s still stress to arrange time and find ways to keep the kids engaged and safe during summer break. Summer in a small Midwestern town way back when was so safe, bike-riding far afield, a hundred of us in the one community swimming pool, dreaded piano lessons and delightful hours in the cool children’s library, no television yet.

Highlight times with our working parents were baking cookies with Mom and occasional trips to the woods or fishing with Dad. We didn’t take dream vacations, we helped pull weeds in the garden, pick tomatoes and berries to “put up” or canned our own crops to eat in winter. It was not an option for a child to opt out of those chores. I guess an average student today would be saying “boring.” I’m already way off track, so you’ll have to wait for the autobiography!

I set off on this mental ramble on a recent Sunday while I watched preparations for a different sort of graduation. These students are not at the end of something but are at the start of a new phase of their lives. Confirmation and first Communion day for about 20 eight-year-olds from our parish will be next week. Their year-long catechism class has brought them basic Catholic teaching that will hopefully put them on a grounded spiritual path for the rest of their lives.

I thought, as I watched their parents at the mandatory preparation session, that the kids’ class has probably been a refresher course in Catholic 101 for these adults.

The final oral exams for these Catholic scholars required them to explain what are the beliefs we affirm when we say the Creed — Apostle’s or Nicene — and what is a sacrament, and in particular, Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist.

“We tell them to say it in their own words,” said Sacred Hearts Sister Anne Clare DeCosta, St. Patrick Parish director of education. She listened to their answers to the test, particularly impressed with “one girl who had the whole consecration down pat.” Asked whether anyone ever fails, Sister said that it’s not a matter of getting a failing grade, but a faltering student would likely be sent back to the parents who need to teach what they practice.

What is Confirmation anyway?

I pondered about how many adults watching from the pews next week would get top grades if they had to explain our beliefs about the consecration of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. OK, the fact that we are Sunday regulars means we’ve heard Jesus’ word in the Gospels many times, and have graphic images in mind, John baptizing Jesus in the Jordan river, Jesus’ words as he blessed bread and wine at the Last Supper. But church officials are alarmed by polls that showed how many Catholics have an incomplete or incorrect understanding about basic beliefs.

But what IS the sacrament of Confirmation anyway, in 25 words or less? Could you answer? In its wisdom, the Catholic Church just recently segued from administering the sacrament of Confirmation as a rite of passage into young adulthood, which it had been for centuries. Now it is combined with the other rite of initiation for first communicants and, as we saw at Easter, linked with Baptism for adult converts. I kind of liked the old perspective of charging a teenager to move on from childhood and take on the responsibility of an adult believer. But this change is actually a return to the tradition of the earliest days of the church. And on a purely practical note, there’s a recognition that declining numbers of teens were being confirmed in this secular-centered world.

A U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops information site says that with Confirmation, “a person is sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit and strengthened for service to the Body of Christ … to practice Jesus’ teaching in every aspect of life and witness Christ in every situation.”

Considering all the nastiness that children are exposed to in this electronically viral 21st century, I can’t deny that age 8 is none too soon to be armed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Msgr. Gary Secor, vicar general of the diocese, will ask God to bestow the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit on the Confirmation candidates June 4. Those gifts are wisdom and understanding, counsel and fortitude, piety, knowledge and fear of the Lord. All but one come from the Old Testament book of the prophet Isaiah. Piety was added to make seven, a favorite number for list-making theologians.

I was delighted to hear that individual expression is encouraged in the testing. That’s a switch from my childhood memories of having to memorize the catechism and repeat it verbatim. Of course, that was in Catholic school and not a lot of kids have that opportunity … or challenge … these days.

How many lists there are, and so many are lists of seven. That is a tradition the first Christians brought from their Jewish roots. The Old Testament begins with the story of God creating the universe in seven days. Thus it became a number symbolizing completeness, perfection. Jews celebrate their important holy day Passover with seven days of fasting and prayers and have their own other lists of seven.

Going with the number seven

The Catholic Church really embraced the idea starting with establishing the seven sacraments. And then there are the seven corporal works of mercy. And off on sidetracks are concepts such as the seven themes of Catholic social teaching. There are seven deadly sins … but nevermind that for this story of youngsters basking in the light of God’s grace and gifts.

I forgot to ask Sister Anne Clare whether they had to memorize the list of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It may be a distorted memory, but I think I sputtered and failed whenever I was challenged to name a certain number of anything. Miserable memory or fired by fear: what if I am the student the bishop would pick for an answer? Nowadays, no need to search out the catechism in the bookcase. Found online, ta-dah, the answer is …

For parents and families of kids all over the state who will receive the challenging sacrament of Confirmation this spring, I have a suggestion. After you get past the drama and excitement of getting communicants’ special clothes, taking the photos of the ceremony, family celebrations and lei and gifts, take time to talk about these special gifts.

Find an exploration of what the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit mean and look at what Catholic sources say about them. How does a child have wisdom and what does he do with it. What is fortitude, anyway, and how do I practice it? Fear of the Lord sounds heavy but I don’t think it should mean being afraid of God, does it?

I especially like what I found at TheCatholicSpirit.com, a website for the diocese of Minneapolis and St. Paul in Minnesota. You might like it as well as I do. It says that a person who receives these sacred gifts needs to put them to use. “To fail to do so would be like purchasing a new computer and leaving it in the box or buying a new car and leaving it in the garage.” It’s up to the family and all of us as church, to help the young newbies keep their gifts plugged in and turned on.

What good timing for our parish that this initiation into sacraments is coming up on the eve of Pentecost. We are celebrating the day when Jesus’ disciples got the gift of the Holy Spirit in a big way. They had seen the Lord leave them, ascending into heaven in glory. They were staying out of sight, feeling leaderless and unsure of themselves, even afraid.

I love the story and imagery of the Holy Spirit appearing like tongues of fire and setting them alight with zeal; it’s one of the best graphics in the Bible. The next thing they knew, they couldn’t stay hidden anymore and were out in the public square sharing their faith and teaching what Jesus taught them. We’ve been hearing how that played out in the readings from the Acts of Apostles in the past couple of weeks. No reason we can’t get the whole story by reading it ourselves.

Send forth your Spirit

The celebration of the Holy Spirit in our lives always sparks memories of the most stressful exams as a scholar. Back in the day on a Jesuit campus, I had a lot of company when I stepped into Gesu Church on my way to The Final Exam, after an all-nighter with the philosophy or history books and a gallon of coffee. We would mumble “Come Holy Spirit, enlighten my mind and strengthen my will to do good and avoid evil.” That call for help remained in frequent use in a career of writing for deadlines.

I found this prayer by St. Anthony of Padua recently. It was taped into a tattered little paper booklet in a desk drawer, one of several cards and clippings that I pasted into it. It’s a resource with a lot of mileage and memories.

“O God, send forth your Holy Spirit into my heart that I may perceive, into my mind that I may remember, and into my soul that I may meditate. Teach, guide and direct my thoughts and senses from beginning to end. May your grace ever help and correct me, and may I be strengthened now with wisdom from on high, for the sake of your infinite mercy. Amen.”

I can’t leave this subject without pointing out that my parish has particular cultural links to embracing the Holy Spirit. When St. Patrick sought to teach the Irish pagans about the true God back in the fourth century, he famously used the three-lobed shamrock leaf to demonstrate the one God in three persons. I can’t pass up a chance for an Irish reference.

Pentecost is also celebrated by Portuguese Catholics, generations of whom have lived in our Kaimuki parish. Holy Ghost festivals were celebrated in Portugal, especially in the Azores, since the 14th century. Immigrants brought the celebration to Hawaii in the late 1800s. It is as much an ethnic festival as religious, remembering Queen Isabella who fed the poor, and a time when people prayed to the Holy Spirit to end a terrible famine. Their prayers were answered with the arrival of ships bearing food.

Plentiful good food was a feature of the festivities by Holy Ghost societies here and elsewhere in America. And in true Hawaii style, the food drew islanders of all cultures to join the Portuguese in their celebrations.