Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Mass Celebrated by Archbishop Denis Hart
at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne,
on Sunday, 10th November, 2002, at 11.00am

Introduction

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today’s Mass stresses the preparedness that we need to have because God’s call comes at unexpected moments. We are invited to thirst for God, who alone will give us happiness.

Today, too, adult candidates from around the Archdiocese will receive the Sacrament of Confirmation.

Let us pray that our waiting for the Lord will be filled with the Holy Spirit, who is the Lord and Giver of life.

Homily

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today is a very special moment for our community. For those who are to receive Confirmation it is a moment of hope. God will come to you exactly as you are and will transform you by staying within you. For the rest of us, whether we received Confirmation five, ten or twenty years ago, we remember that Jesus promised, “I will send you the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth. He will teach you all truth and will stay with you forever.”

Today’s Confirmation is a wonderful chance for us to take up or to renew our awareness of the Holy Spirit guiding every thought, word and deed of our life.

The words Holy Spirit mean Holy Breath. Just like breath gives life to our body, so the Holy Spirit is God’s breath and gives life to our soul. The Holy Spirit helps us to live for God, touches us and gives us everything we need to live in his presence, to profess our faith and to know that God will never desert us unless we say no to him.

Why it is so important to say yes to the Holy Spirit is that God wants us to say yes to the Father, to Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, so that we will live our life fully and will come to our true home in heaven.

That journey was begun on the day of our Baptism and continues throughout life. The Sacraments of Penance and Eucharist bind up and make complete that life and give us our daily food. Confirmation reminds us and brings to us God who is present staying in us.

We thank God for the gifts of the Holy Spirit - wisdom, understanding, right judgement, knowledge, courage, reverence and wonder and awe.

Sometimes parents wonder at the challenges that the world throws at their children. Yet, the Holy Spirit is God. He comes to give us all that we need in sufficient degree and with sufficient intensity so that we will be able to live confidently as Christians in our modern world.

Lastly, remember -

1. God loves you and wants to stay with you.
2. Never let a day finish without a prayer to God asking for forgiveness and asking him to stay with you.
3. Trust that if you let God guide you every day, then you may have trials and difficulties, but you will always be happy because you are living that for which you are made.

“Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.”

+ Denis J. Hart,
Archbishop of Melbourne.