Confirmation - RESURRECTION OF THE LORD CHURCH

Confirmation I and II:
July 25, 2010: The Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Read the Gospel: Lk 11:1-13

Journal: How did you live out last week's Gospel message? What was tough? What was rewarding?

I remember receiving a prayer request a few years ago from one of my old high school classmates. She had e-mailed my whole graduating class, asking that we all pray for the recovery of another classmate who had just been diagnosed with cancer. I know that, for at least 2 months thereafter, my prayers always included this classmate and his family. He recovered dramatically. About a year later, I received yet another prayer request for another classmate fighting cancer. And I prayed. She died from the disease within a year.
So why did God answer one prayer and not the other? Or, if God answered both prayers, why the different outcome?
This week's Gospel will help you to understand. Jesus says God doesn't always answer our prayers by giving us what we want. First, Jesus compares God to a person who gives his friend what he needs. Then he says God will answer our prayers by giving us the Holy Spirit.
What do you expect from prayer? Most of us pray for things we want, but God often gives us something we need-the courage and commitment to do God's will in tough times. You might want a good grade, but what you need are better study habits. So the answer to your prayer might be a teacher challenging you to work harder. You might pray for God to spare a loved one from an illness. God might answer by strengthening you with the Spirit so you can comfort your sick loved one. You might want a better life for the poor. And God might answer your prayer by calling your attention to an opportunity to serve the needy in your community.
Sure, our prayers might work miracles for others. But more often our prayers work miracles within us. Here's a challenge. Keep track of your prayers in a journal, and also keep track of possible changes you see in yourself or your life. Talk with your priest, parents or close friend about your search for answers to prayer. See if God makes changes in the world or in you.

Journal: Can you remember a time you were inspired to help someone after praying for him or her? Reflect on this. How did it play out? How did God answer your prayer?

Confirmation I and II:
July 18, 2010: The Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Read the Gospel: Lk 10:38-42

Journal: How did you live out last week's Gospel message? What was tough? What was rewarding?

Growing up in the 60's placed me in college on the mainland in the late 70's and graduate school back in Hawaii in the early '80's. During that time, more island girls were beginning to seek higher education outside of the islands and in areas which men were more prevalent. I met a number of strong female professors in college who were big influences on attitudes regarding the role of women in society.
Jesus also valued women disciples highly. And this Gospel shows it. In Jesus' time women were little more than property. They had few rights. They certainly weren't allowed to study at the feet of religious teachers. But Jesus saw things differently. He encouraged women to learn from him. He appeared to a woman first after his Resurrection. He defied the stereotypes and sexism of his day.
Many women tell me they think our society still suffers from warped views about a woman's role. Ads seem to argue that women have no value unless they wear the latest fashions. I have teacher friends that say that some teenage girls still don't offer answers in class out of fear that boys don't find smart girls attractive. Women are underrepresented in leadership in many parts of society. A frighteningly high number of women suffer abuse each year by men who think women have no right to refuse their physical advances.
I have several friends who are good examples of women who learned about a woman's role from Jesus. All Christians need to look critically at negative stereotypes of women in our culture and stand up to anything that denies women equal rights in politics, business, or religion.
Mary sat at Jesus' feet to learn. Maybe we should do the same thing if we wonder about a woman's "role."

Journal: Identify any stereotypes or policies in our society that you think are contrary to Jesus' view of women. How has Jesus influenced you in developing positive attitudes about the value of people in your life?

Confirmation I and II:
July 11, 2010: The Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Read the Gospel: Lk 10:25-37

Journal: How did you live out last week's Gospel message? What was tough? What was rewarding?

I remember a news story years ago that both troubled me and then consoled me. Just a few days after 9-11, an angry mob gathered from a Chicago area mosque. The mob marched toward the mosque to seek revenge for the 9-11 attacks. Mob members apparently reasoned that all Muslims are terrorists because a few Muslims used their faith to justify mass murder.
Religious bigotry, which caused so much hatred in Jesus' time, is alive and well. What did Jesus say about it? This week's Gospel tells it all.
Many Jews in Jesus' time shunned Samaritans because they were the descendants of Jews who had married people from different ethnic and religious backgrounds. So Jesus must have shaken this scholar of the Law and his prejudices when he made the Samaritan the good guy in this story.
The mosque I mentioned found protection that night, and later many local Christians spoke out against the religious bigotry that spurred the march. Thus, they retold the story of the Good Samaritan in their own words. Is that a story you're willing to share?

Journal: Where have you witnessed religious or ethnic prejudice (in your family, school, neighborhood or larger community? Explain what happened? How did it make you feel? What did you do? What could you have done? What will you do, should it happen again? Be specific in your answers.

Confirmation I and II:
July 4, 2010: The Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Read the Gospel: Lk 10:1-12, 17-20

Journal: How did you live out last week's Gospel message? What was tough? What was rewarding?

I did my undergraduate work at the University of San Francisco. In my junior and senior years, I was privileged to work with a youth group at St. Ignatius College Preparatory (a high school). It was an experience that helped to spirit my love in working with teenagers and I have maintained long-distance friendships with a few of them over the years. They are all professional people today, married with children.
I specifically remember four of these teenagers that I met in my first year with them. I remember that their faces lit up. They hadn't realized the difference they would make. After all, they were just four teens.
They believed in peace. So they decided to start a youth retreat to teach how Christians can fight racial prejudice. They opened their retreat up to several public and private high schools throughout the city.
The four teens glowed with confidence after the leaders they helped choose for the retreat ended a day of training. They looked on as their Hispanic, Caucasian, Asian and African-American teen leaders shook hands and committed to join them in their peace project.
"The Lord appointed seventy-two others" to "cure the sick" and announce that "the kingdom of God is hand."
The Gospel tells the story that's over two thousand years old but also brand new. These four peace-building teens heard Jesus' instructions as clearly as the first disciples. Like them, they went forward on faith. They didn't know if other teens would welcome their ideas or make fun of them. Like the first disciples, the four teens also cured sickness by helping other teens take a stand against prejudice. And like the first disciples, they were amazed at the power Jesus gave them.
Did you know Jesus has appointed you too? Many teens doubt themselves. Some look in the mirror and think they can't make a difference. I think those first disciples thought the same thing. Remember, they were ordinary people. Most were probably poor and uneducated. They probably felt powerless too, until Jesus came into their lives.
Then they changed the world. But the job's not done. Just look around your school and you'll see plenty of sickness. Will you go when he sends you?

Journal: What sickness/sicknesses in the world (in your family, school, neighborhood or larger community) should you, or do you, help cure? How does this sickness/sicknesses stand in the way of building God's kingdom? Be specific.

Confirmation I and II:
June 27, 2010: The Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Read the Gospel: Lk 9:51-62

Journal: How did you live out last week's Gospel message? What was tough? What was rewarding?

I grew up on Maui in the 1960's and 1970's, with a mother and a father who worked for the pineapple and sugar cane industries, respectively. Travelling around the island, I grew up marking time with the planting and harvesting of both crops throughout the years. Each season's crop began with little plantings into full crowns or tall cane stalks. It was a miracle.
In this week's Gospel, Jesus compares discipleship to plowing. Christians are like farmers. They bring new life into the world because they plow forward with their faith-something you can't do if you're always looking back to the past.
Should you ignore your past? No.
I have a friend who made a lot of mistake in life; we've all made them. This friend of mine, however, wanted to become more Christian but found it too difficult. Why? She never learned from her mistakes or apologized to the people she hurt. As a result, she could never plow forward. By ignoring her past, she actually became stuck in it.
Following Christ doesn't mean forgetting past mistakes and moving ahead. That doesn't work. You can't move forward in life with Jesus until you learn from mistakes and reconcile broken relationships.
Deal with your past mistakes and sins. It will help you set a hand to the plow, move forward, and bring new life into the world.

Journal: What past sins or broken relationships hold you back? Be specific. How has your past made you a better disciple?

Confirmation I and II:
June 20, 2010: The Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Read the Gospel: Lk 9:18-24

Journal: How did you live out last week's Gospel message? What was tough? What was rewarding?

Many years ago an NBA player angrily announced that basketball players aren't paid to be role models, so young people should stop looking at them that way. The statement came because some parents were criticizing basketball players for acting immorally off the court.
The player was right. Don't make an athlete your role model for life. Life is more than sports. But don't let Jesus be just a role model either.
What?!?
Yup, I said it. Don't make Jesus just a role model. Role models are examples to follow. But they don't necessarily help you follow those examples. That depends on your ability.
Jesus is more than a role model. Jesus is God. There's a big difference. We want to follow Jesus' example for living, but we can't do it on our own. That's what makes Jesus more than a role model. Because he is God, Jesus can send the world his Spirit. And we can follow his example only with the Spirit's strength and guidance. Without the Spirit's strength and guidance, we're doomed to fail.
A lot of people give up on Christian living because they think it's just too hard. Or they argue that Jesus' message about forgiveness and peace is unrealistic. That might be because they see Jesus as just a role model-one of many lifestyle options. Maybe they don't realize Jesus doesn't expect us to follow his example using our strength alone. Maybe they don't realize Jesus' lifestyle seems more and more realistic the more you let the Spirit shape your vision and strengthen you through prayer.
So who do you say he is? Let him be more than your role model. Let Jesus be your God, your source of all life, strength, goodness, and hope. Let him help with every decision. Let him show you the way to go and help you get there. Let him inspire you, forgive you, heal you, and strengthen you. You can use his strength and vision every moment of every day. Ordinary role models can't give you that!

Journal: Where in your life do you need Jesus' strength most to live as a Christian? Reflect and give an example or two of a difficult time when you gave up in a situation that, in retrospect, you could have and should have called upon our Lord to help you through. How might it have changed the outcome? How might it have changed you? Be specific.

Confirmation I and II:
June 6, 2010: The Most Holy Body & Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi Sunday) - Read the Gospel: Lk 9:11-17

Journal: How did you live out last week's Gospel message? What was tough? What was rewarding?

I met an amazing young man one Christmas. Only 13 years old, he had organized a church blanket drive that had collected dozens, maybe hundreds of blankets for homeless people. His mom told me that he first wanted to organize the drive when he was seven, but that she told him to wait until he was older.
The young man is the perfect example of someone who seems to have learned from this week's Gospel. In the Gospel story, the disciples face a hungry crowd and seem confused. They ask Jesus to do something. "Send them away," they say. But Jesus challenges them to do something. The result? The hungry people eat.
We have to remember that Jesus left our world, but Christ is still here. We are Christ's Body on earth. Each of us has a role to play in a world full of hunger and hopelessness. We all have the power to make a difference. But we need to work together and seek Jesus' guidance.
So don't just pray for Jesus to help others. He isn't coming back until the end. It's up to you and me to do the hard work of changing the world until then. Want world peace? Then pray for the ability to be a peacemaker. Want homes for the homeless? Then pray for guidance to help homeless people in your community. Want healing in your family? Then pray for the strength to bring it yourself.
Jesus is still trying to feed the hungry. But we're his Body now. Let's get to work.

Journal: Who inspires you to believe you can help work Christ's miracles in today's world? Why? What specific thing(s) has this person done to allow you to say to yourself, "I can do that!" Pray now that the Lord might help you to see the needs of others and to make a difference in their life.