Cathedral missionary outreach
January 3, 2020
Celebrating Catholic faith online
January 3, 2020

Unforgettable Confirmation experience at St Theresa’s

The Confirmation class at St Theresa’s, Barataria concluded its two years of training on November 22.

At the beginning of our journey in January 2016 we were all a bit excited to see what we had started, yet wary as it was a completely new experience in which neither us nor our catechists had previously participated. It was the new programme initiated throughout Trinidad and Tobago, and we felt almost like guinea pigs.

Fortunately, we had amazing, fun catechists who tried their best. They would always ensure we were ready and able to take in the information they needed to give to us.

The Saturday before our Confirmation ceremony, we dedicated our last class together to practise what exactly would be happening on the day, like our entrance into the church, the order in which we would sit, the readings and the psalm, the laying on of hands, and our responses.

Our parish priest, Fr Steve Ransome wrote a wonderful piece entitled, ‘For Your Confirmation, A Message from Fr Steve’. He focused on the long and hard journey and hoped we would continue to grow in faith. He fittingly ended with a ‘thank you’ to all our catechists and catechetical coordinators.

Before Mass on our big day, we sang praise and worship songs, led by our youth choir, The New Generation Choir. Songs such as ‘Veni Sancti Spiritus’ and ‘Come With Your Fire’ were featured.

Before entering the church, we were reminded by a catechist to hold onto and repeat the phrase ‘Come, Holy Spirit’ to centre ourselves and keep focused on the spiritual significance of the day.

Archbishop Jason Gordon’s homily spoke of us coming to the realisation of our destiny to be saints and God’s calling us to sainthood. The Archbishop also reminded us that we are all unique and there is a vocation specifically for us.

He said that for us to be truly happy, we must actively seek out God’s call in our lives. The homily ended with a question to everyone present: “Do you want to do you, or what God is asking of you?”.

Before the end of Mass, one of our newly confirmed thanked all present and proceeded to give small tokens of appreciation to Archbishop Gordon, Fr Steve and our catechists.

I would not have given up the two years for the world, due to the numerous new friends that I hope to keep close to me during my continued journey, and the innumerable valuable lessons learnt that I will remember for the rest of my life. It was an unforgettable Confirmation experience!

—Kayandra Paul