God’s Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!

This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we’re certainly going to go through the good times with him! (Romans 8:14–17 MESSAGE)

To get a sense of what today is all about, let’s talk about the everyday meaning of confirmation. What are things we confirm?

The first thing that comes to mind for me are reservations. You or your family make a reservation to go somewhere to eat, or to go somewhere on vacation. The restaurant, the resort, or the hotel make room for you. They prepare to welcome you. They make a commitment to receive you.

And, in return, they ask you--as the time to arrive gets closer--to confirm your intention. You said you wanted to come and now they want you to confirm your intention. So, you call and confirm. “Yes, we’re coming!”

What else do we confirm? Well, nowadays, whenever you fly on a plane--whenever you take the SATs or PSATs--you have to confirm who you are. You need to some sort of ID to prove--to confirm--that you are who you say you are.

And that brings me back to today’s second reading. Listen again and note Paul’s use of the word confirm and of who’s confirming whom!
St. Paul writes, “God’s Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!

“This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we’re certainly going to go through the good times with him!”

God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children.

Pause. We know who he is, right? At least in the case of the Confirmation class that’s what we’ve been studying together for the last two years. But how about the second part of that equation? Do we know who we are? Do we know what identity--or which identity--God’s spirit is touching in us and confirming as who we really are?

Once upon a time there was a little man who was as ugly on the inside as he was on the outside. Ugly! But, he had a taste for the fine things in life and one of the fine things he had a taste for was the love of a beautiful girl.

As ugly as he was, inside and out, she was beautiful, inside and out! And the ugly little man was almost sick with desire. What could he do, though? She was beautiful; he was ugly.

He came up with a plan. The ugly man knew a wizard who was particularly adept at making lifelike masks. The ugly little man would ask the wizard to make him a lifelike mask of a beautiful young man that he could wear to win the love--and the hand--of the beautiful woman.

And, guess what? It worked! Not quickly, of course! First, after months of getting to know each other, the two fell in love. And then, after months stretched into years of loving and getting to know each other, the two decided ultimately to marry and live together, happily ever after.

This whole time the ugly little man always and only wore his mask. Except, the funny thing was, it didn’t feel like a mask anymore! After all this time of every day wanting to be the person in the mask, it felt like that--the man in the mask--is who he really was (or, put it this way: who he really was meant to be!)

Nonetheless, out of love for the beautiful woman--his wife--the ugly little man knew what he had to do. “I have something very difficult to tell you,” he told her one night. “This isn’t me,” he said, pointing to his face. “This is who I want to be, but this isn’t who I really. This,” he said sadly, “is who I really am.” And, with that, he slowly and painfully removed his mask. ...

“How did you do that?” his wife said, amazed. “How did you do that? How did you make a mask that is an exact copy of your face? You had me scared for a minute!” And they lived happily ever after.

St. Paul writes, “God’s Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!

“This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we’re certainly going to go through the good times with him!”

For two years, the Confirmation class has worn what might, at times, have seemed to them like a mask. They were taught: “This is what being a mature Christian looks like! This is what being faithful looks like. This is what Christians value. This is what they think, believe, and are.”

Not just for two years, but for their whole lives they’ve been taught, trained, and guided. But, today--and, again, out of love and respect for the beloved, the same as in the story--they will remove their masks ... and discover who they really are.

This is what today represents for all of us! We’ve been taught, trained, and guided. We’ve been shown what being a mature Christian looks like, what being faithful looks like, what Christians value, think, and believe.

But, we, too--out of love--are also being invited to remove the mask and discover who we really are.

“God’s Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!

“This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we’re certainly going to go through the good times with him!”

In Jesus’ name. Amen!