Abbot Columba Mc Cann:Well here you are, on the day of your Confirmation! A few days ago someone asked me, ‘Who will be confirming on Sunday: will it be you or will it be the archbishop?’ I said that I would be confirming, as the Archbishop has given me special permission. To confirm is to make firm, to make strong. Really, it’s the Holy Spirit who confirms you, who makes you strong, like Christ, who enables you, if you want, to live by Christ’s strength, by his life. You will be anointed with Chrism as a sign of your being made like Christ. Chrism – Christ – it’s basically the same word.
But you might turn around in a few hour’s time, or a few day’s time, or a few week’s time and say, ‘I don’t feel any stronger. I don’t feel any different. Did anything at all happen when I made my Confirmation? Or was it all just an empty show?’
It could of course be an empty show. But it doesn’t have to be. I don’t know how many of you have Revolut accounts. It’s all foreign territory to me. Someone could lodge a whole stack of money in your Revolut account. But that won’t make the slightest bit of difference unless you actually draw on the account, unless you actually use the app to release the funds in a shop or online or whatever. The money might as well not be there unless you decide to use it.
It’s the same with Confirmation: the spiritual gifts on offer to you now might as well not be given to you unless you decide to activate them. What happens when they are activated? I’d like to give you a visual image connected very much with Glenstal. Look around the grounds. People sometimes say that it is just at this time of the year that the grounds look at their best. They are a blaze of colour. An amazing variety of colours and shapes among shrubs and trees. You could ask, ‘What makes this happen?’ I’m weak on biology, but a simple answer would be that it’s the heat of the sun, the moisture of the rain, the nutrients from the earth. It’s the same sun and rain that are poured out over each plant. But each plant grows up differently. A rhododendron is not the same as an oak tree. Each in its own way is magnificent but they are not the same. It is the same sun and rain that provide for their growth, but each grows according to their unique identity and style. If you decide to activate the gifts of the Holy Spirit, you will become more you, not less you. Your uniqueness will become more evident. The Holy Spirit is not a photocopier. The same Spirit produces different results in each person.
Think of the fact that each of you is taking a different new name for your Confirmation. You are like the pope, who a few days ago changed his name to Leo, in remembrance of the last Pope Leo, who was a champion of the rights of workers suffering because of the industrial revolution. Some of you are taking names from within your own family. That’s a great way of acknowledging the gifts you have already received in your family. The Holy Spirit often points us on the right direction through other people.
But each one is unique. Saint Clement spent much of his time caring for the poorest of the poor. He also lived for a while as a hermit praying for the needs of others.
The name Seán connects you not just with your family but with many great men down the centuries. John the apostle, John the Baptist, closer to our own time, the man who founded the university that was later to become UCD, St John Henry Newman. In the Irish language, men with the name Seán get a special upgrade when they are recognised as saints, changing their name to Eoin. So you might have to change your name again!
Dominic was famous as a great teacher and preacher, combining holiness of life with a great sense of humour.
Augustine as a seeker and a searcher, a great writer and thinker around the time of the fall of the Roman Empire. A man with a restless heart searching for the meaning of life, searching for happiness. Eventually he discovered that happiness in its most concentrated form comes directly from God. He said, famously, ‘You mayve made us for yourself, O God, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.’
So how do you activate your spiritual account? How does the power of Christ flow into you? It only takes a few seconds: in any situation in which you find yourself, just ask God. Just say, in your own words, in your own way: be with me, guide me, help me to do this your way. You can ask for this whether you are in class, on the rugby pitch, with your friends or online: be with me, guide me, help me to do this your way. The result will always be better than if you did it on your own.
There might not be a flash of light from heaven, or a roll of thunder, but there are telltale signs that the Holy Spirit has actually been at work in you. Afterwards you can look back and notice. St Paul describes it. You find you are more at peace. You find that you are more joyful. Others begin to notice your gentle side. You begin to get stronger and are able to control yourself more and achieve the best result. These are just some of the ways in which you will know that the spiritual gifts are being activated. The life of God himself is at work through you.