My wife and I have been blessed to teach Confirmation class at our home parish, Mary Mother of the Church Catholic Parish in San Antonio, TX.
It is a growing parish, just 4 years old with no built sanctuary. So Mass is usually outdoors, and our confirmation classes are held in donated portable buildings. Thus, we feel great joy and responsibility in building up our new parish with our youth. We love helping prepare students for confirmation. In our few years as catechists, we’ve learned that faith formation is similar to the season of Advent; it is a time of waiting and wonder. Maybe there is a bit of fear and uncertainty in our preparations, but an excitement all the same.
A Story of Joyful Anticipation
This Sunday, we will celebrate the Fourth and final Sunday of Advent. In the Gospel, we read of John the Baptist leaping for joy in the womb of his mother Elizabeth.
“And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” (Luke 1:43-45)
I love the stillness of that celebration, because only Elizabeth can truly sense the excitement of her baby in her womb. Everyone else is able to bear witness to her testimony. In many moments of life, the seeds of faith or the wonder of wanting to know more about God can be a silent drum stirring in someone’s heart. That is the beauty of stillness we find in the Advent season; a peaceful presence of hope and a promise from our God that sustains us until we meet that hope in person on Christmas Day.
The Beauty of Stillness in Faith Formation
Much like the season of Advent, there is also a stillness in teaching confirmation classes. Many students are quiet, and sometimes our questions can be met with prolonged minutes of silence. In the past, this would have been a big concern for my wife and me. We would have attributed that silence to indifference, boredom, or disagreement. Now, we can take the lessons of Advent and connect them into our classroom. Some students are listening and reflecting on the information, and others may just be afraid to fully speak because they still don’t know. That is why we have switched our teaching styles from just discussion-based to also writing in journals, and breaking students up into smaller groups for easier discussion.
Planting Seeds of Faith
It is our hope and prayer that the information shared about God can excite enough curiosity and confidence that allows students to fully make that commitment to believe and live out the faith. We know that it will not always be an immediate response, so we just do what we can in helping our students prepare in this Advent season of their young lives.
“Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe." - St. Augustine
Daniel Quintero is a stand-up comedian currently attending Mary, Mother of the Church Catholic Parish. His favorite motto: “Awkwardness does not exist.”
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