Dear young people, who will receive the sacrament of confirmation,
Brothers and sisters,
May the Lord give you peace!
Finally, I’m here in “Lefke”… I am truly very happy to celebrate the Eucharist with you for the first time as bishop. And celebrate this important celebration with you, at this important moment in the life of these young people of ours, an important moment in the life of this community, of our Latin Catholic Church in Cyprus. Thank you Father Theodorus, for your service, your generosity, in serving our Latin Catholic community in Lefke. A big thanks to their catechist, and to all those who have followed our young people and who will continue to follow them, helping them on their journey of faith. But be careful, the protagonist, the one who guides not only this celebration, but also our whole life is the “Holy Spirit”. Today the Holy Spirit will confirm in our young people, the sacrament of confirmation, of the glory of the life of Jesus in them. By confirming the life of Jesus in their lives He gives them the strength to bear witness to the life of Jesus. And the question arises: do we really believe in this? And still someone could ask: is this something automatic? Is it just a feeling? Or is it just a ritual, a liturgy?
In the first reading of this Holy Mass we listened to the story from the Book of the Acts of the Apostles. The story tells us about the first disciples of Jesus, who, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, thanks to the coming of the Holy Spirit, managed to amaze the people of their time and environment! They managed to change the world. And they were not ashamed to talk about Jesus. To bear witness to the life, the words of Jesus, the Gospel of Jesus. I ask you and myself, in a clearly provocative way: “But today, who notices us Christians?”.
Jesus said to his disciples two thousand years ago, but he also repeats it to today’s disciples: “You are the light of the world, you are the salt of the earth”. But, today, who, looking at Christians, can see this light and enjoy a different “flavor” of life?
Today we live in the world where everything is the same, one thing is as good as another. I remember when I was a student in Rome. I asked my superior for money to buy a pair of shoes. It costed 40 euros. When I went to buy it, I found very similar shoes in the shop… they looked the “same”, and only costed 10 euros. I thought: I will buy them and I will have 30 euros to buy other things. And I bought them…. But the first time I used them, it rained… and the shoes opened… and I came home with completely wet feet…..
Yes, the Holy Spirit will guide you to choose, to discern…… Dear young people, who are about to receive the sacrament of confirmation, the Holy Spirit you are about to receive, wants to make you “capable of choosing the Truth”. And St. Paul tells us (Galatians 5,16-25): “Brothers, walk in the Spirit”. And walking in the Truth, in the Truth of the Spirit, being true Christians, means bringing your life to the maximum of fulfillment. If you let yourselves be guided by the Holy Spirit, you will not only become wiser and better, but also stronger, more beautiful, more spontaneous, more real.
Someone will say: everything is beautiful. How is it possible? Isn’t that just a beautiful illusion? Jesus gives us the answer in today’s Gospel (John 15:26 and following): “When the Paraclete (the Holy Spirit) comes (…) the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. This Spirit promised by Jesus to his first disciples is the same one that will come upon you today, dear young people. It is this Spirit who will remind you of the words and teaching of Jesus. And he will help you to live these words. To taste all sweetness.
Remember brothers and sisters that Christianity is not a morality, but a faith, a life-changing Truth. And its possible with the intercession of the Holy Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph May the Holy Spirit revive this faith in you, which can change your whole life and make it beautiful, fascinating, capable of changing and transforming the world…. Amen