‘Anointed to be the Anointed One’

In the Church’s liturgical year, we are now in a place of waiting and eager expectation. The Son has ascended to the Father and we await with joy the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. In the life of our parish, we have already seen an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on all those young people who received the Sacrament of Confirmation (who we all continue to pray for). By the grace of the Sacrament, they were anointed to be the Anointed One (Christ) in the world, being a ‘place’ (by virtue of being Temples of the Holy Spirit) and person of encounter with the Living God. This is true for us all who have received this Sacrament.

We can see the Holy Spirit at work in the children of our parish who will receive the Holy Eucharist for the first time this weekend. They are responding to the call of God in their hearts through Baptism to approach the altar and receive the Eucharistic Lord. They will receive the Saviour of the world, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity, into their very being. The sacramental grace of the Eucharist will draw them ever closer into his love, not just today but every time they approach the Eucharistic Lord at the altar in faith.    

These celebrations for the children, however, are not an end but a beginning of the next stage of their pilgrimage of holiness. The formal classes and preparation may have ended but they will be called to love as Jesus loved in their own situations. Don’t stop praying for them or for their families. They are being drawn ever closer into the Lord’s love, let us be drawn in with them in prayer, love and thanksgiving.
 

Christ has risen, he has risen indeed! Alleluia!
 

Father Gary