By Dan Luby
(from Caravan, ? with permission of the publisher and author)
A twenty-something weight lifter with two tone hair; a grandmother thumbing
the pages of a well worn Bible; a young couple chatting in Spanish as they drink
coffee and admire their smiling infant; a man with a cane hanging over his arm
as he deliberates over pastry choices.
At nine o'clock on a sunny Saturday morning, the diversity of the adult confirmation
candidates assembling for the retreat is a snapshot of that diversity which
both enriches and complicates pastoral life.
This article describes a retreat model that invites diverse adult participants
to reflect prayerfully on the intersection between lived experience as people
of faith, and the meaning of the Sacrament of Confirmation, through an "unpacking"
of the ritual.
Objectives
1. to foster participants' eagerness for the sacrament by offering a clearer
understanding of the sacramental rite for Confirmation in the context of community.
2. to provide participants an opportunity to pray with scripture texts pertinent
to Confirmation.
3. to help people recognize the presence of the Spirit in their own lives through
sharing personal stories.
4. to enrich awareness of the mission dimension of Confirmation.
Time: About 6 hours, in one or two blocks, including several breaks. Segment times are approximate.
Materials needed
Name tags; markers; newsprint; overhead projector and transparencies; handouts;
Bibles (for each participant); glass vessel with Sacred Chrism; CD or tape player
with background music; refreshments.
Preparation
• Select 2 readers for the Baptismal Promises reading before lunch and
give them the text.
• Arrange a "focus" with an open Bible, Sacred Chrism, a burning
candle.
Gathering (10 min.)
After welcoming people and going over temporalities, an opening prayer in song
(e.g., "Send Us Your Spirit" by D. Haas) focuses the group on the
moment and the presence of the Spirit.
Using an overhead
transparency (or handout) based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
#1303, walk through the effects of the sacrament of Confirmation. Explain that
the day will be an extended reflection on the structural elements of the rite
itself as a way to help them connect everyday life with Confirmation and their
life in the Church.
Part 1: Presentation of the Candidates (50 min.)
The rubrics for this segment of the rite are read aloud.
Paired with another retreatant they don't already know, participants exchange
about a simple ice breaker question (see Handout #1; during this and subsequent
sharing times, it may be helpful to have soft instrumental background music
to play). As the leader formally calls each participant's name, as would be
done in the liturgy of Confirmation, partners present each other to group with
information from their exchange.
Participants are invited to draw on newsprint a "time line" of significant
moments in their life's journey. After about 10 minutes, pairs are matched up
into groups of four and the time lines are discussed. Questions can help frame
the discussion (Handout #1) The leader wraps up by stressing the reality of
the Spirit's action in our lives through the small, everyday things as much
as the dramatic, once-in-a-lifetime events. BREAK
Part 2: Homily or Instruction (75 minutes)
The rubrics for this segment of the rite are read aloud.
Leader reflects briefly on the role of Scripture as the source of the indispensable
story of God's love that gives meaning to our personal stories. Walk through
a sample of the recurring motifs of the great biblical stories (transparency:
"Great Motifs of Scripture -- creation /new birth; fall/loss of innocence;
captivity/liberation; repentance/conversion; woundedness/healing; death/resurrection;
etc.). Invite quiet reflection on time lines and conversation in fours around
a framing question (Handout #1)
When they're finished,
invite participants to a time of private prayer with the scriptures through
Lectio Divina (sacred reading). On a transparency, list steps: Lectio
(reading aloud slowly); Meditatio (meditation on a word or phrase or
image from the reading); Oratio (prayer, spoken or silent, springing
from the meditation); Contemplatio (silent recognition of God's presence).
Demonstrate with a passage from the next Sunday's gospel.
Hand out biblical
citations from the Confirmation ritual (see Ritual, 61-65). Ask each person
to take a bible and find a quiet spot to pray with one or two texts they choose.
Allow at least 25 minutes.
If time permits, when the group re-convenes, de-brief the prayer exercise. Invite
people to share insights with the group.
Part 3: Renewal of Baptismal Promises (15 minutes)
The rubrics for this segment of the rite are read aloud.
Leader explains the dynamic of witness in the Liturgy of the Word – the
testimony of our ancestors in faith invites the assembly to respond with its
own testimony. In Confirmation, this takes place through renewal of baptismal
promises
Handout "Reflection
on Baptismal Promises" (see Handout #2). Readers alternate each question
from the ritual followed by a short reflection, then a cantor sings (or a reader
reads) "Do you believe?" and participants respond, "I do."
LUNCH
Part 4: Laying on of Hands (60 minutes)
The rubrics for this segment of the rite are read aloud.
Allow quiet time to consider the questions about participants' experience of
receiving and giving gifts (Handout #1). Participants swap stories in fours.
Leader offers brief catechesis on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit (transparency
listing the gifts from Is.11:2). Invite conversation in groups of four about
how participants experience those gifts in their own lives and see them in the
lives of others (Handout #1).
Part 5: Anointing with Chrism (45 minutes)
The rubrics for this segment of the rite are read aloud.
Leader draws attention to the Sacred Chrism that is part of the focal point
of the room and explains its link to baptism and ordination as a sign of our
identity as priestly/prophetic/royal people. Focus on implications for ministry
and service, within the Church and beyond. Reflect on what does and doesn't
happen in the sacramental moment; realistic expectations. Stress the long history
of God's preference for working "from the inside out" as the norm,
in the "still, small voice" of 1 Kings 19:12. Introduce the concept
of "disposition" as our responsibility. In fours, invite discussion
of things which get in the way of our receptivity to the Spirit, and things
which support it.
Conclude with the
poem "Amen" by Barbara Schmich Searle (in Liturgical Gesture,
Words, Objects, p. 30, 1993, Center for Pastoral Liturgy, Notre Dame, Indiana,
USA).
Part 6: General Intercessions/The Lord's Prayer/Prayer over the People
(15 minutes)
This will be the closing prayer for the retreat. Ideally, it can take place
in a nearby chapel or some other sacred space. Participants process in silence,
following the Sacred Chrism as it is placed in a position of honor. As people
enter, Veni, Sancte Spiritus (Taizé) is sung (or played on a
CDtape), beginning softly and growing, as participants are invited to join the
continuous refrain.
While the song
continues, prayers of intercession, adapted from the Rite (47 – 49), are
offered. Participants are invited to add their own intentions. After suitable
interval, let silence descend. The scripture is proclaimed (see Rite, 62; two
or more languages, according to the group's make up), followed by a brief period
of silence. At the invitation of the leader, the Lord's Prayer is said by the
assembly. Leader prays the prayers of blessing, adapted to fit the circumstances
(49) and sends the participants forth.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
They gather outside the Blessed Sacrament chapel after the closing prayer service,
talking softly in clusters of three and four. A few exchange phone numbers and
e-mail addresses, eager to continue conversations and friendships begun in the
sharing sessions or around the lunch table. The hulking young man with the pony
tail smiles at the baby in the carrier hanging on his massive forearm. The baby's
mother consults the grandmotherly woman about a childcare offer. One of the
retreat leaders is packing up left over tarts for the elderly man with a cane.
Someone asks about where they can buy a Bible for home.
In the stories they have shared throughout the day they have discovered in their
own ordinary lives, echoes of the great stories of our tradition. In the prayers
they have prayed together they have expressed their common longing for completion,
for mercy, for deeper communion with Jesus. The day that began as a hoop to
be jumped through, a waste of a perfectly good Saturday morning in Spring, has
turned into a graced moment. Together they have been sent forth to complete
their preparation for the sacrament. They say goodbye with handshakes and hugs.
They are ready.
*******************
Handout #1: “Framing” Questions for Reflection and Conversation
. . .
Presentation of the Candidates:
Icebreakers: Tell your name and something about it; parish; when and where baptized;
a fun day for you?
Time line: Looking over your time line, what seems significant to you now that seemed insignificant at the time? What changed your view?
Homily or Instruction:
What is one example from your “time line” of a biblical theme/motif
present in your story?
Laying on of Hands:
Remembering Gifts: What's one great gift you received as a child; as an adult?
What made it so meaningful? What's one great gift you gave as a child; as an
adult? What made it so meaningful?
Gifts of the Spirit: Where do you see some of these gifts already demonstrated in your life/other’s lives? Which of the gifts of the Spirit do you particularly hope to see strengthened through Confirmation?
Anointing with Chrism:
Obstacles & Supports for Grace: What are some of the things that get in
people’s way of being receptive to the action of the Holy Spirit? What
are some factors that support our openness to the Spirit?
******************
Handout #2
Reflection on Baptismal Promises
Reader 1: Do you reject Satan and all his works and all his empty promises?
Reader 2: Jesus is the Truth. To believe in Jesus is to turn away from everything
that offers lies. So we reject the source of lies, the malice and blindness
of a selfish heart. We turn away from all that leads to darkness and death.
We look beyond the false promises of greed and acquisition; the false community
of exclusion and privilege; the false comfort of self-seeking and isolation,
in order to embrace the truth of the Gospel.
Cantor: Do you believe? Response: I do
Reader 2: Do you believe in God, the Father, the Almighty, creator of heaven and earth?
Reader 1: We do believe in you Father, for we see your hand in all that we
experience, from the sunrise over open fields to the moonrise on the faces of
those whose lives touch ours.
Cantor: Do you believe? Response: I do
Reader 1: Do you believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary, was crucified, died, and was buried, rose from the dead, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father?
Reader 2: We believe in you also, Lord Jesus. Fully God, you loved us enough
to limit the magnitude of your divinity in the fragile confines of a human child.
Your humanness came into being by the creative power of the Almighty and the
quiet courage of a young girl.
Lord Jesus, You lived as we do, with the triumphs and defeats that we all share;
and when you were victorious over death and rose from the tomb, you showed the
power of your love. Today you show us that there is more life than death in
following you.
Cantor: Do you believe? Response: I do
Reader 2: Do you believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who came upon the apostles at Pentecost and [will be] given to you sacramentally in confirmation?
Reader 1: Holy Spirit, without you, our picture of God is incomplete. You are
the Spirit that dwells within us; the power in our hearts that leads us to the
Father and the Son. You are the fire within that stirs our hearts and souls.
You are the flame that brightens our minds and opens our eyes. You are the stuff
of God that has led us together to this point on the journey. Watch over us,
O Spirit of God, and inflame our lives with the power of your love.
Cantor: Do you believe? Response: I do
Reader 1: Do you believe in the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and live everlasting?
Reader 2: We do believe that we are brothers and sisters in your family, Lord.
We are sisters and brothers with the poor and homeless; with all those who suffer
oppression; with all those who give themselves to the work of liberation. Our
Church is holy, for, in spite of its flaws and its sinful members, it is the
Body of Christ. Together we are complete, and complete, we look for your resurrection
in the midst of our struggles, and endless light in our home to come.
Cantor: Do you believe? Response: I do
Readers 1 & 2: This is our faith. This is the faith of the Church.
We are proud to profess it in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Cantor: Amen, amen, amen! Response: Amen, amen, amen!