杏MAP导航

Dear brothers and sisters: In these days following the Church鈥檚 celebration of the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, our catechesis turns to the sacrament of Confirmation, which 鈥渃onfirms鈥� the grace of our Baptism and 鈥渁noints鈥� us with the Spirit to bear witness to Christ before the world. Jesus himself, filled with the Holy Spirit, carried out his mission as the Lord鈥檚 Anointed, and after his death and resurrection, bestowed the Spirit upon his disciples, who went forth from the Upper Room to proclaim God鈥檚 mighty works (cf. Acts 2:11). As Christ was anointed by the Spirit at his baptism in the Jordan, so at Pentecost the Church received the Spirit in order to carry out her mission of preaching the Gospel to the ends of the earth. In Confirmation, Jesus fills us with his Spirit and makes us sharers in his own life and mission, in accordance with the Father鈥檚 saving plan. May this sacrament strengthen us to be ever docile to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, as we strive in all our actions and words to live fully the new life received in Baptism and to advance the Church鈥檚 mission in the world.