Wednesday – Feast of the Annunciation

Gospel – Luke 1:26-38

YES!

Confirmation 2026

I was back in Chicago this week and, while there were a number of tasks I was there to take care of, one stood out as the most important – deaconing the Confirmation Mass for 37 8th graders at St. Robert Bellarmine Church, many of them I have known since they were 4th graders whom I trained and mentored as altar servers. 

What made this Rite of Confirmation so very special was that 2 of them asked me to be their sponsor.  What an honor!  What a blessing!  Standing there with my hand on their right shoulder, presenting them to Bishop Sullivan, watching them be anointed with chrism and sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit!  It made me so proud not just that they were saying ‘YES’ to this Sacrament of Confirmation, but that they knew and understood the meaning of their ‘YES’.

They weren’t just going through the motions; they weren’t just following a family tradition! They weren’t just saying ‘YES’ to the moment but committing themselves to a life of faith and service!  I could see it in their excitement leading up to the Rite!  I could see it afterwards in their constant expressions of gratitude and humility over the enormity of the Sacrament itself! Wow!  Talk about being filled with the Spirit!

We hear of another YES in today’s Gospel!  Mary’s YES to the Angel Gabriel!  Not your ordinary Yes!  This was a YES that changed all our lives, a YES that changed the world! A YES that brought our Savior into the world. This was not merely a simple OK, not a string of syllables.  This was Mary placing herself completely in the hands of the Lord.  This was Mary committing herself to action, to a life of service to God.  Do with me what You will!  That is real faith, faith in words and in action.

May we be willing to say YES, to grow in faith and let our lives reflect the words of today’s responsorial Psalm!  Here I am Lord; I come to do Your will!

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