{"id":6541,"date":"2025-10-24T08:52:48","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T13:52:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stphils.com\/church\/?p=6541"},"modified":"2025-10-24T08:52:48","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T13:52:48","slug":"pastors-letter-october-26-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stphils.com\/church\/pastors-letter-october-26-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Pastor’s Letter: October 26, 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear St. Philomena Parish Family,<\/p>\n

Blessings to you all this day\u2014I hope everyone is well and knows the love of God in your hearts this day! As of this writing, I am joyful to share that our OCIA class continues to grow every week! A couple weeks back, I counted more than 30 people in the room as Fr. Daniel was teaching about the Holy Spirit. Our group is a great mix of people at different stages in the their faith journey\u2014some are seeking life in the Church through the sacraments, some are looking to complete a missing sacrament like Confirmation, and some are just looking to learn more about our Catholic Faith. We have had several new people join us within the last couple of weeks – if you or anyone you know is still thinking about the class\u2026or wishing you would have joined\u2026it is definitely not too late to jump in with us \u2013 everyone is definitely welcome!<\/span><\/p>\n

Reflecting on our OCIA group, and thinking about the previous series on Baptism we concluded a couple of weeks ago, I thought it would be fitting to talk about the next of the Sacraments of Initiation:\u00a0 the Sacrament of Confirmation. Although we often use the simple greeting at Mass, \u201cThe Lord be with you,\u201d another of the greeting options the priest can use is: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.\u201d For me, this greeting always highlights the Trinity, God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit\u2026but especially names the \u201ccommunion\u201d of the Holy Spirit. In our Faith Tradition, we often refer to the Holy Spirit as the bond of love – the bond of love between the Father and the Son\u2026between God and us\u2026between us and one another. So, one of the key works of the Holy Spirit is uniting hearts together, drawing us deeper into union with the Lord. In that sense, the \u201ccommunion\u201d of the Holy Spirit truly celebrates our union with God and one another.<\/span><\/p>\n

When we talk about Confirmation, we can first look to our Catechism:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBaptism, the Eucharist, and the sacrament of Confirmation together constitute the \u2018sacraments of Christian initiation,\u2019 whose unity must be safeguarded. It must be explained to the faithful that the reception of the sacrament of Confirmation is necessary for the completion of baptismal grace. For \u2018by the sacrament of Confirmation, [the baptized] are more perfectly bound to the Church and are enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit. Hence they are, as true witnesses of Christ, more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith by word and deed\u2019 (CCC<\/em>, 1285<\/a><\/strong>).\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, Confirmation is understood as the completion of what we first receive in Baptism\u2014being joined to the life of God through the Gift of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. There are many wonderful fruits that come from the Sacrament of Confirmation which help strengthen us for our life in Christ. Here are some of the most common ones our Church speaks of:<\/span><\/p>\n