Confirmation and ‘Conformation’

(Pentecost 2026 (A): This homily was given on May 24, 2026 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I., by Fr. Raymond Suriani.  Read Acts 2:1-11; Galatians 5:16-25.)

[For the audio version of this homily, click here: Pentecost 2026]

Confirmation/conformation

Each of those words has twelve letters, eleven of which are the same.  But the tiny change that we find in the second word—the change of the “i” in Confirmation to the “o” in conformation—makes a huge difference.  So much so that it actually takes a work of the Holy Spirit and transforms it into a work of Satan.

Confirmation, of course, is one of the seven sacraments.  As such, it’s one of the Holy Spirit’s greatest works.  It’s also our personal participation in the event of Pentecost, which we heard about in today’s first reading from Acts 2.  Pentecost, which occurred fifty days after Easter, was what you might call a spiritual “game changer”.  Prior to that event, the Apostles were weak and fearful, unsure of themselves and unsure of the truth.  After the Spirit descended on them, they were exactly the opposite.

And they were not only different as individual persons; they were also different from other persons (from other persons who had not been anointed with the Holy Spirit in the way that they had been).  That’s clear from today’s first reading.  When the people in Jerusalem on Pentecost Sunday heard the Apostles preaching and speaking in tongues, they took notice, did they not?  They said, in effect, “Hey, these guys are different!  Something’s happened to them!  Each of us hears them speaking in our own native language!”

The Catechism says this about Confirmation: “It is the sacrament which gives the Holy Spirit in order to root us more deeply in the divine filiation, incorporate us more firmly into Christ, strengthen our bond with the Church, associate us more closely with her mission, and help us bear witness to the Christian faith in words accompanied by deeds.”

We receive the Holy Spirit for the first time when we’re baptized.  Through the sacrament of Baptism original sin is taken away, we’re born again of water and the Spirit, and we receive sanctifying grace into our souls. 

So why do we receive the Spirit again? 

We receive this second outpouring of the Spirit in the sacrament of Confirmation to help us live out our baptismal commitment to Christ and his Church by “bear[ing] witness to the Christian faith in words accompanied by deeds”—as the Catechism tells us in that text I just quoted to you.

And this is where, for many young people who are being confirmed these days, Confirmation gets overshadowed.  It gets overshadowed, it gets usurped, by what I would call “conformation”—which is basically the desire to conform and be like everybody else (instead of trying to be the person that God wants you to be).

These young people need to hear and take seriously the words of St. Paul in Romans 12.  There the Apostle says this: “I beg you through the mercy of God to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, your spiritual worship.  DO NOT CONFORM YOURSELVES TO THIS AGE, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may judge what is God’s will, what is good, pleasing and perfect.”

“Do NOT conform to this age!”

“Don’t live your lives,” in other words, “in conformation to the ungodly ideas of the world in which you live.”

But many of our CONFIRMED young people are doing just that!  As Fr. Besse would say, they’re allowing the world to “squeeze them into its mold.”  Over the years I’ve had faithful teenagers from our parish say to me things like, “Fr. Ray, we had a discussion in class today about abortion, and I was the only one who said abortion is wrong.”  “Fr. Ray, I was talking with a group of my friends recently and they said that they all believe in gay marriage.”  “Fr. Ray, one of the other teens who works with me said he doesn’t see anything wrong with living together before marriage.”

And on and on it goes.

Now I could understand it if the faithful teenagers who say these things were going to school and working and hanging around with a bunch of atheists and devil worshippers, but most of the kids they’re talking about here are baptized—and confirmed—Catholics!

And yet, they believe all these things that are contrary to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

That’s “conformation.”

The grace of Confirmation, my brothers and sisters, is the grace to live the Faith and defend the Faith and spread the Faith.  It’s a gift from Almighty God himself.  But it’s a gift that we have to freely accept and freely put to use.  Have you ever received a gift from another person that you haven’t ever used?  I have.  A number of times!

The gift is yours—you have it in your possession—but it doesn’t do you any good whatsoever, because you aren’t using it.

Well, that’s precisely the way many young people—and many not-so-young people—respond to the grace given to them at their Confirmation.  They receive that grace into their souls, yes, but they don’t allow it to change them and strengthen them in the way the Apostles allowed the Spirit to change them and strengthen them at Pentecost.

Many of them don’t even go to church anymore!  Pope Leo XIV mentioned this sad fact in a talk he gave in Rome last week to some Confirmation candidates from Genoa, Italy.  The Holy Father said, “At times, when the bishop administers Confirmation, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the children are never seen again! They disappear from the parish.”

We had 19 young people confirmed here at St. Pius last Monday night by Bishop Tobin.  I wonder how many of them will be at Mass this weekend.  I hope and pray they ALL will—but I definitely wouldn’t “bet the farm on it”.

I wouldn’t even bet half the farm.

Is it any wonder, therefore, that so many of our youth are depressed and confused these days?  I don’t think it is.  In a well-known passage from Galatians, chapter 5, St. Paul contrasts “the works of the flesh” with “the fruits of the Spirit.”  The works of the flesh he mentions there are some of the activities that flow from a life of conformation: “Immorality, impurity, lust, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies and the like.”

The kinds of activities, in other words, that eventually lead to depression and confusion—and a lot of other bad things.

Then Paul mentions the fruits of the Holy Spirit, which, happily, are some of the realities which are found in the life of somebody who is living in the grace of his or her confirmation: “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

Confirmation/conformation: two similar words with two very different meanings, signifying two very different lifestyles that take people in two very different directions—both in this life and in eternity.

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful on this Pentecost Sunday, that we will say yes to the grace of our confirmation every day, and no to the constant temptation we face to conform our lives to the world and its ways.  And may our young people follow our example and do the same thing.  This we ask through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

 

How to Deal With our Losses in Life: ‘Look up’ and ‘Look out’

 

(This homily was given on May 14, 2026 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I., by Fr. Raymond Suriani.  Read Acts 1:1-11; Psalm 47:2-9; Ephesians 1:17-23; Mark 16:15-20.) 

[For the audio version of this homily, click here: Ascension Thursday 2026]

Life is a series of losses.  I’ve come to realize that more and more as the years have passed.  (Of course, life can also be looked at as a series of “gains”—but that’s a subject for another homily!) 

Think for a moment this afternoon about some of the things that you lose during the course of your earthly life.  As time goes on you eventually lose your physical health.  You lose your youthful energy.  You lose your hair (some of us lose more than others).  Sooner or later you lose your job either through a layoff or a firing or through a retirement.

You lose your friends and family members because they die.  You lose your 20/20 vision.  You lose some or all of your teeth.  You lose your mental sharpness.

Losses are part of the fabric of this life—which is why it’s so important that we learn how to deal with them effectively.  If we learn to deal effectively with our losses, we can actually have a measure of peace and happiness on this earth in spite of their presence in our lives.  However if we fail to learn to deal effectively with them, those very same losses can easily overwhelm us and even drive us to despair. 

So there’s a lot at stake here.

In this regard, the apostles definitely have something to teach us.  Today we CELEBRATE the feast of our Lord’s ascension.  But quite frankly I don’t think the apostles felt like celebrating anything on the very first Ascension Thursday.  I say that because on that day they experienced the greatest LOSS of their lives: the loss of the physical, carnal presence of Jesus.  For three years these men had come to rely on our Lord’s wisdom, power and guidance in a very direct way.  He was there, with them—in the flesh.  They related to him as we relate to the people we have personal contact with every day.

But that all came to an abrupt end when Jesus ascended into heaven forty days after his resurrection.  And yes, he had promised to send them the Holy Spirit, that’s true, but I don’t think that meant much to them at the time since they probably weren’t too sure who the Holy Spirit was!

So what did they do?  How did they cope?  Well, if you read the Scriptures carefully you see they did two things in response to their physical loss of Jesus: THEY LOOKED UP AND THEY LOOKED OUT!  The Bible makes it clear that for the nine days between the ascension of Jesus and the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost the apostles met together in the Upper Room to pray.  In other words, they “looked up” to the Heavenly Father for the strength and help they needed—and in the process they ended up making what amounted to the very first novena!

At the same time they also “looked out” to one another (and to Mary, our Blessed Mother, who was there with them in the Upper Room).  They gathered as a group not only to pray, but also to console one another, to encourage one another, to build up one another.

Based on my experience of being a priest now for 40-plus years, I would say that the people who deal most effectively and most successfully with their losses in this life are those who do what these apostles did: they’re the people who make the effort to “look up” and to “look out” every day.  They’re the people, first of all, who have an active prayer life—who take prayer seriously—who try to pray every day with their hearts and not just with a lot of words.  That is to say, they “look up” often.

They’re also the people who don’t make the mistake of trying to live their lives as “Lone Ranger Christians”.  Quite oppositely, they consistently “look out” to others.  These are people who do not allow themselves to become isolated.  They’re people who are humble enough to admit that they need the support of their brothers and sisters in Christ to deal with their difficulties.  And they’re people who are smart enough to reach out and actively seek that support.

If we’re not coping very well with our own personal losses at the present time, chances are we’re falling short in one of these two areas.  Either we’re not “looking up” or we’re not “looking out” as we should be.  May the example of the apostles motivate us to change that, so that in the midst of our losses we will be able to gain at least a measure of peace and happiness—the peace and happiness that we all long for in our hearts—and that God, in his love and mercy, wants to give us.

Sacraments that are Only Valid; Sacraments that are Valid and Fruitful

 

(Sixth Sunday of Easter (A): This homily was given on May 10, 2026 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I., by Fr. Raymond Suriani.  Read Acts 8:5-8, 14-17; Psalm 66:1-20; 1 Peter 3:15-18; John 14:15-21.)

[For the audio version of this homily, click here: Sixth Sunday of Easter 2026]

 

Religiously speaking, what do Adolph Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Joseph Stalin have in common with St. John Paul II, St. Francis of Assisi and St. Pius X?

You may be tempted to say, “Nothing,” but that would be incorrect.

Believe it or not, religiously speaking the three scoundrels in the first group share at least one thing in common with the three holy men in the second group: Baptism!  Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin were all born again of water and the Holy Spirit as infants!  They were all set free from original sin; they all received sanctifying grace into their souls, and they all became members of God’s family, the Church.  Of course, in one way or another they all repudiated the Faith later in life, but that’s another story.  Their later wickedness doesn’t negate their baptisms; it doesn’t change the fact that they once received the same sacramental graces that St. John Paul II, St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Pius X received on the days they were baptized.

Which brings up the obvious question: How is it possible for an Adolph Hitler and a John Paul II to experience God’s grace in the same way through Baptism, and then become exact opposites in their earthly lives?

The only way to answer that question is to make reference to a very important distinction of sacramental theology:  it’s the distinction between a sacrament that’s valid, and a sacrament that’s valid and fruitful. 

For a sacrament to be valid, you need the proper minister (for Baptism—in ordinary circumstances—that means a bishop, priest or deacon); you need the proper matter and form (in Baptism, that means water, and the words of the Trinitarian formula: “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”); and the one administering the sacrament must have the right intention (in Baptism, that means the intention to do what the Church does when she baptizes).  If all those prerequisites are satisfied, then the person in question—be it Adolph Hitler or Francis of Assisi—truly receives the sacrament.

But obviously that’s not supposed to be the end of the story!  Jesus has given us the seven sacraments for a specific purpose: so that they will bear fruit—good fruit—in our earthly lives, and thus assist us on our pilgrim journey to Heaven.  But whether or not this happens depends largely on us: we decide whether the sacrament we receive will be only valid, or valid and fruitful.  We do that by either rejecting the grace given in the sacrament, or cooperating with it.  This, of course, explains the difference between the three scoundrels and the three holy men I mentioned a few moments ago: the three holy men nurtured their baptismal grace and it bore good fruit in their lives; the three scoundrels did not.

This important truth about the sacraments is illustrated right in our midst (and in every Catholic church) each and every Sunday.  For example, one man receives the Eucharist at a Sunday Mass, walks right out of church, swears at people in the parking lot, and yells at his wife and kids when he gets home for no good reason.  Another man at the same Mass receives, goes back to his pew and sincerely prays that he can put into practice the Gospel message he’s heard that day.  Then he goes out and puts forth his best effort in that regard. 

Did both men receive a valid sacrament?  You bet.  But only one allowed it to bear good fruit in his life.

I thought of all this in preparation for this homily, because our three Scripture readings this weekend deal (either explicitly or implicitly) with the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation. 

In today’s Gospel text from John 15 Jesus says, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate [i.e., the Holy Spirit] to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows him.  But you know him because he remains with you and will be in you.”  The Spirit is given to us first at Baptism; then another outpouring of the Spirit is given to us at Confirmation.  In today’s first reading from Acts 8 we’re told that the apostles went to Samaria, and there they found some new Christians.  Nothing strange about that.  But what was unusual was the fact that these new Christians had only been baptized!  For some reason, they hadn’t received the second outpouring of the Spirit which comes at Confirmation.  And so the apostles immediately laid hands on them to confirm them and remedy the situation. 

The second reading from 1 Peter 3 fits into this by giving us an important insight as to why this second outpouring is necessary.  Ask most young people why they want to receive the sacrament of Confirmation, and they’ll usually tell you one of two things.  Either they’ll say, “Because I want to get married someday in the Church”—which, by the way, is a horrible reason to want to be confirmed.  And besides, canon law does not say you must be confirmed to be married in the Church; it indicates that you should be confirmed.  Let me warn you, teenagers: if that’s the only reason you’re being confirmed (so that you can be married in the Church someday), then this sacrament will probably not bear much fruit in your life.  It will be valid, but that’s about it. 

The second reason young people will commonly give for wanting to be confirmed is this one: “I want to be an adult in the Church.”  To which I always want to respond, “What does that mean?”  If you’re over 18 and you’re a baptized Catholic, then you’re an adult in the Church!—whether you are confirmed or not!

The purpose of this second sacramental outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Confirmation is WITNESS!  That’s what Peter is talking about in today’s second reading.  When Jesus told his apostles that he would send them the Holy Spirit he said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes to you, and [then] you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  Confirmation is given to make us bold, strong, loving, committed Catholics who aren’t afraid to be different; who aren’t afraid to stand up for the truth and be counted.”

“But Fr. Ray, that’s hard.”

Yes!!!! And that’s precisely the point!  If it weren’t hard we wouldn’t need this sacrament!  Listen now to what Peter says in that second reading: “Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.  Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear. . . . for it is better to suffer for doing good, if that be the will of God, than for doing evil.”

That’s the kind of witness we are called to give through the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Why is this so important?  Well, aside from our own salvation being at stake, if we fail to allow our baptism to bear good fruit in our life, we will cause harm to others—even to those we love.  Take the three scoundrels I mentioned at the beginning of my homily.  They clearly squandered the grace that God had graciously given to them at their baptisms.  It bore almost no good fruit in their lives, and millions—literally millions—of innocent people suffered because of it.

You know the history.

By the way, the same thing is true today of baptized civil leaders who reject the grace of their baptisms by supporting evils like abortion.    

How many people have suffered because of that?  How many innocent lives have been lost?

Life, my brothers and sisters, is all about choices.  Among the most important choices we make, are the ones that concern the sacraments we receive.  Will I, or will I not, allow my baptism, my confirmation—and the Holy Eucharist—to bear good fruit in my life?  Will these sacraments be only valid for me, or will they be valid and fruitful? 

Dear Lord, may we always choose the second option in our lives.

When will they realize who is in their midst? When will we realize who is in our midst?

 

(Third Sunday of Easter (A): This homily was given on April 19, 2026 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I. by Fr. Raymond Suriani.  Read Luke 24:13-35).

[For the audio version of this homily, click here: Third Sunday of Easter 2026]

 

I think Rod Serling and Alfred Hitchcock would have enjoyed today’s gospel story about the two disciples who met the risen Christ on the road to Emmaus.  That’s because this story has a certain “suspense” about it—and those two men both enjoyed suspenseful stories.

The suspense centers around one issue which can be expressed in the form of a question: When will they realize who it is?  When will these two disciples finally realize who it is who is walking and talking with them?  Will it ever happen?  Or will Jesus just leave them without ever making himself known?

The tension starts right at the beginning.  We find out that these are two disciples of Jesus, who are “conversing about all the things that had occurred” during the previous few days.  So immediately we feel sympathy for them.  After all, they were disciples—close followers of Jesus—men who had put all their hopes in our Lord.  But those hopes were seemingly crushed on the previous Friday, when Jesus was crucified.  Then, all of a sudden, seemingly out of nowhere, Jesus appears and begins to walk with them, and we immediately think to ourselves: “Great!  Now they’ll realize that everything’s all right!  Now they’ll realize that he’s been raised from the dead!  Now they can be at peace.”  But, unfortunately, they don’t recognize him, which is what gives birth to the suspense.  Now why didn’t they immediately know who it was?  That’s an issue that troubles many people.  Was it because they had short memories and couldn’t remember what Jesus looked like three days before?  No, not at all.  They probably didn’t recognize him because our Lord’s body looked a lot different in its glorified state.  Yes, it was the same body he had before the crucifixion, but something about it appeared to be different.  Very mysterious, to say the least.  This is something that we’ll probably never understand fully until we get our own resurrected bodies at the end of time.

And so the two disciples and Jesus begin a lengthy, deep conversation.  And through it all the suspense continues to build, and we keep asking ourselves that ever-present question: “When will they finally realize who it is?  C’mon guys, can’t you figure it out yet?  What’s taking you so long?”

The climax comes when they’re at table at the end of the day.  St. Luke tells us that at that point Jesus “took bread, said the blessing, broke it and gave it to them.”  This, of course, was exactly what our Lord had done at the Last Supper.  The disciples realize that—they realize that Jesus is consecrating the Eucharist for them just as he had done for his apostles a few nights earlier—and their eyes are finally opened.  The suspense, at long last, is over, and Jesus vanishes from their sight.

This changed everything for these two disciples.  That’s such an important fact to keep in mind.  When they finally realized who it was who was in their midst, it changed their mood, it changed their attitude; I dare say it changed their whole perspective on life.  They were no longer depressed and confused.  They were now joyful and anxious to tell everyone the good news.  And they began by immediately running off to the upper room and telling the eleven apostles and the others who were there with them.

There’s a very practical lesson here, I would say, for all of us.  At first, these two disciples did not realize who was in their midst.  That was their problem.  And that, believe it or not, is also our problem.  In fact, it’s really the fundamental problem of human life. It’s the reason the world’s in the mess that it’s in at the present time.  Mother Teresa used to describe the poor and suffering people she ministered to as “Jesus Christ, in distressing disguise.”  Mother Teresa was a woman who always understood who was in her midst!  In other words, she understood that the image of Jesus was mysteriously present in every single human person, and she treated them accordingly.  How easy it is for us to forget that or to ignore that fact—especially when we’re dealing with people who have hurt us or who don’t like us.  But what a different world it would be if we could all get and keep this supernatural perspective that Mother Teresa and all the saints had.  Sin, although it would not be eliminated, would certainly be lessened.

There would be less violence and fewer wars.  There would be less racism, less sexual immorality, less dishonesty.  Because instead of treating others like objects for our own selfish gain and pleasure, we would all begin to treat others with respect, realizing that they are human beings created in the Lord’s image.

Well, we can’t instantaneously change everyone’s perspective in this regard, but we can certainly make the daily effort to change our own, and that will help in a small but real way to change the world.  And how can we begin to be more aware of the Lord’s presence in others?  Well, one way is by taking Mass seriously.  After all, that’s what did it for the two disciples in today’s gospel.  They became aware of who was in their midst because they entered deeply into the Mass that Jesus began to celebrate for them on the road to Emmaus.  No, St. Luke doesn’t call their experience a Mass, but that’s exactly what it was.  Every Mass has two parts: the Liturgy of the Word, and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.  Jesus celebrated a Liturgy of the Word for these men as they walked those many miles to Emmaus.  He quoted from the Scriptures, and gave them a long, long, long homily—far longer than anything you’ll ever get from Fr. Ray (so count your blessings!).  And it’s obvious that they were not daydreaming when this was happening; they weren’t looking at their watches (or should I say sundials?).  They were attentive, they were all ears.  As they later said, their hearts were “burning” inside them.  And then, when they sat down at table, Jesus completed the Mass by celebrating the Liturgy of the Eucharist.  And please notice that neither one of these disciples ran out before it was over.

They became aware of who was in their midst because they entered deeply into the Mass.  And that’s one of the things that will help us to be more conscious of the Lord’s presence in others.  Is it a coincidence that Mother Teresa loved the Mass so much and attended every single day?  I don’t think so.  I believe that’s why she could see “Jesus Christ in distressing disguise” wherever she went.  By the grace of God which we receive at this Mass and at every Mass, may we be able to do the same.