Happy Name Day, Happy Feast Day to All!

This Sunday we celebrate all of our name days as it is the Solemnity of All Saints.  We will also be celebrating Confirmation today and are always blessed to have Bishop Sullivan here celebrating with us.  I can remember my own Confirmation which was just a couple of years ago, just kidding; it’s been more like thirty years ago.  I remember two things very vividly and distinctly.  That was in the name I chose and also what it felt like to get Confirmed.

I chose the name Paul because I was very moved by John Paul II, it was 1982 and he had been Pope for about three years and already he left a mark on me a thirteen year old kid from Jersey.  So, I chose the name so that my full name would be exactly like his, John Paul.  He was obviously not a canonized saint at that point, but a saint he already was as we can all attest to.

I did not want to just choose any old name, I wanted one that had meaning to me, yes I would have the same name but it was Pope John Paul’s ability to relate to the young, how he was gentle with the old, how he was able to forgive the man who shot him, how he could walk into Madison Square Garden and receive a louder cheer and applause than any performing act could.  But it was also his depth of holiness; you could see it emanating from him in the way he spoke, the way he celebrated mass, in the way he prayed.

I also remember the way I felt the day I received Confirmation.  I could remember not wanting to be there originally.  Just another long day of doing things, sitting around, standing around, waiting, etc., typical thirteen year old with no patience and no awareness of the moment.

Yet, when I finally went up to be Confirmed and the Bishop placed the sacred chrism on my forehead I felt the presence of the Lord, it hit me like a ton of bricks.  I felt him all around me as soon as the Bishop placed the oil on my forehead.  I felt warmth and unbelievable peace through my whole being.  As I walked back to my pew I felt as though I was walking on air.  It had nothing to do with me in the sense that I prayed for it, it came out of left field, if you will.  Yet, there was no mistaking it, it was God touching my life even with all the teenage baggage I brought with me to the Altar, it was a feeling of love that could not be mistaken.  It moved me for some time and kept me asking God, “What do you want of me?”  That question would be answered in my entering Seminary to study for the priesthood.

This leads me to a third point, this week also begins Vocations Awareness Week, a week in which we discuss vocations to the priesthood, but also encourage young men to consider that vocation.  Next week Fr. Alfred and I will preach on our own vocations and what it means to be a priest.

You can see that the Saints help us in our lives, they pray for us.  I had a bunch of them praying for me without even knowing it and most of all Saint John Paul II who prays for me now.  All Saints is a celebration of their lives, those canonized saints, but it is also a celebration of family, for we believe that the Church is a family and those who have gone before us continue to look out for us, just in different ways.  So, again I wish you all a happy name and happy feast day, God bless all Saints!