CONFIRMATIONS on November 30 at 6:00 p.m. in Saint Bonnet (for the parishes of Champsaur-Valgaudemar and Haut-Champsaur) & December 1, 2024 at 10:30 a.m. in VALLOUISE (for the Briançonnais deanery)
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The prophet Jeremiah, whom we heard in the first reading, prophesies this: “Behold, the days are coming – oracle of the Lord – when I will fulfill the word of happiness which I addressed to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. » “I will fulfill the word of happiness that I addressed! »
God therefore spoke a word of happiness; what words and what happiness? But what is happiness? Every 25 years, following biblical tradition, Christians experience a jubilee year, a holy year. Pope Francis, in his text announcing the Jubilee 2025 and its opening in the dioceses on December 29, noted that every human being seeks happiness, but asked a question: “what is happiness?” What happiness do we expect and desire? Not a passing joy, an ephemeral satisfaction which, once achieved, always demands more in a spiral of lusts where the human soul is never satisfied but always emptier. We need a happiness that is definitively accomplished in what fulfills us, that is to say in love, so that we can say, from now on: I am loved, therefore I exist; and I will always exist in Love which does not disappoint and from which nothing and no one can ever separate me. » SNC 21 (Christmas gifts can be understood either as a passing joy and then I can be disappointed with what I receive, or as a gesture of love given and welcomed.) “I will fulfill the word of happiness that I 'have addressed'; what is this word of love? Jesus is God's word of happiness addressed to humanity. And this first Sunday of Advent, before E nt, we begin to prepare our souls to welcome this word of Happiness, on Christmas Eve, the coming of the Savior. There are three comings of Christ Jesus in the history of humanity. : 1/ his coming more than 2000 years ago in the crib of Bethlehem; 2/ his glorious return at the end of time; what our gospel predicts, and between the two, 3/ his discreet coming into each of our hearts. “I will fulfill the word of happiness that I addressed! » Indeed in the gospel, Jesus himself announces this accomplishment in the form of his glorious return at the end of time, which in theology is called the Parousia: “There will be signs in the sun, the moon and the stars. On earth, the nations will be distraught and distraught by the roar of the sea and the waves. Men will die of fear waiting for what is to happen to the world, for the powers of heaven will be shaken. » With these words, the early Christians believed that Jesus would return very quickly. But the first generation began to die off; Jesus still had not returned. They then had to take a longer perspective. We are in this long time of God's patience: he waits for men to listen to his word of happiness, his Son Jesus. Let's welcome his 3th discreet arrival in each of our hearts. The Pope invites that, I quote, “the Jubilee Year be for all a moment of living and personal encounter with the Lord Jesus, “door” of salvation. He is our hope » SNC 1
Dear confirmand friends, what is the meaning of your confirmation, on the threshold of this jubilee year, on this first Sunday of Advent? There is a double dimension: It is a personal gift for a mission for others.
First of all, personally it is the gift of the completion of Christian initiation. You will be fully Christian, baptized, received communion and confirmed. “Confirm”, etymologically, means “to strengthen” or “to strengthen”: the proper function of confirmation is to strengthen what was given in seed by baptism. If baptism gives birth to the life of Jesus Christ in us, confirmation brings it to the adult state; it makes the confirmed an adult in his faith. I have to thank God for that. Having read and personally responded to the letters from confirmed members of all the parishes of the diocese, I want to thank your parents, often your grandparents and even great-grandparents. Faith is a gift from God, but dear parents and grandparents, through your fidelity, for example in prayer, you have awakened the desire and opened the hearts of your children, grandchildren or great-grandchildren, who have given it to me. writing. Sometimes it's the opposite: I confirmed a father in another parish at the same time as his daughter; and it was she who invited him there.
(This gives me the opportunity to address the adults present here who are not confirmed: please know that during the Holy Year, your parish and the diocese will offer you an adult confirmation during the Vigil of the Holy Year Mass. Pentecost at the cathedral in Gap Are concerned, in addition to adult catechumens who are already preparing for confirmation, 3 types of baptized people 1/ The practicing faithful, but who have not yet been confirmed for. different reasons 2/ The faithful preparing for marriage for next summer, because receiving the Holy Spirit in fullness, he who is the love between God the Father and Jesus the Son; getting married is a guarantee of a lasting marriage 3/ The godparents of the summer baptisms who have not yet been confirmed If you are in one of these 3 situations, do not hesitate to do so. talk to your priests.)
I also read in your letters requesting confirmation how important the retreats and camps offered by your parishes, the diocese and the scout movements have been. Thank you to your priests, your nuns, your catechists, your scout leaders who have counted on your journey of faith. Finally, I must also thank you personally, because if you are present today, it is because you have made a personal decision, based most of the time on a personal encounter with Jesus. To use Jeremiah's words, you have welcomed “the word of happiness” that He addressed to you, experiencing His sweet presence, particularly during events of great suffering, such as the death of a loved one, or of happy events, such as having been godfather or godmother at baptism. Some confide to me that there was truly a before and an after of this powerful encounter with Jesus; That it changed your life. One of you says God saved her. But dear young people, all this is not just for you, for your well-being. The Church is not the salon of well-being!
This gift of Confirmation indeed has a community dimension: you receive a spirit for a mission.
It is up to you to be witness and prophet of this word of happiness, particularly during the Holy Year 2025 when the Pope invites us to be pilgrims of hope. I can't tell you that our world is not going well, with a resurgence of violence and radicalization, including in the democratic debate -, with a worrying headlong rush towards “societal” issues, such as euthanasia of the elderly, while the emergency would be the development of palliative care, with the serious concerns generated by the Russian invasion in Ukraine, the war in the Middle East, the suffering due to migration and climate change. It is into this desperate and hopeless world that God sends you to proclaim hope. The reopening and the first Mass at the ND Cathedral in Paris on December 7 and 8, and the coming of Pope Francis to Ajaccio on December 15, are signs of this hope. Dear young people, it is when times are more difficult that we have the beautiful mission of being, according to the Pope's invitation for the 2025 jubilee, “pilgrims of hope”, to in turn proclaim Jesus Christ , our word of happiness. For it is in the night that the light of Hope will shine. Amen.
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