With the contemporary renewed emphasis on the Holy Spirit and in the light of certain trials and temptations of the Christian life, its relevance and its meaning should become more clear. It cannot be easily identified with a clearly spelled out act or state, and yet it is the Sacrament, in a way, of everyday Christian vitality because it gives us the Holy Spirit in a special manner to fortify us in the day to day struggle with the powers of darkness, to enable us to answer the enemy, to come to maturity, prepared to show our faith in word and action, to live it and defend it, to persevere as defenders and witnesses to that faith and, as the old definition put it, "strong and perfect Christians, soldiers of Jesus Christ". It is by Confirmation that we receive the gifts of Pentecost that Christ sent us in order to make us his agents, the builders of his Kingdom. We are gathered here today for the joyful celebration of receiving the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of Confirmation. The Lord will dwell in us.

5. TREASURING THE
GIFT OF HAPPINESS

6. Life is precious. Life is
God’s greatest gift to man. By
virtue of our being created after
God’s image and likeness, we
possess a dignity rightfully
given to each one. No matter
how defective we may seem,
God loves us and cares for us.
Sometimes, what the world
considers unfortunate is a
blessing in disguise. True
happiness is found in God
alone.

7. And he came down with them and
stood on a level place, with a great
crowd of his disciples and a great
multitude of people from all Judea
and Jerusalem and the seacoast of
Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear
him and to be healed of their
diseases. And those who were
troubled with unclean spirits were
cured. And all the crowd sought to
touch him, for power came out
from him and healed them all.

8. And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said:
“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the
kingdom of God.
“Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall
be satisfied.
“Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.
“Blessed are you when people hate you and when
they exclude you and revile you and spurn your
name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice
in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward
is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the
prophets.

9. “But woe to you who are rich, for
you have received your
consolation.
“Woe to you who are full now, for
you shall be hungry.
“Woe to you who laugh now, for
you shall mourn and weep.
“Woe to you, when all people
speak well of you, for so their

10. 1.Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven.
2.Blessed are the meek: for they shall possess the land.
3.Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
4.Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they
shall have their fill.
5.Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
6.Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God.
7.Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called children
of God.
8.Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake: for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
THE BEATITUDES

11. This poverty will cause you to turn to God to find out His will in every single decision
you make, before you open your mouth, before you make a judgment. It makes you
teachable and ready and willing to receive instruction from God through His Holy
Spirit. A glass that is empty can be filled. When you are poor in spirit, then God can
fill you with His riches – the virtues of Christ. Then you get the kingdom of heaven
within you, and others around you also experience it!

12. Are you broken-hearted over your inadequacy to be genuinely
good to others? Do you see how far you are from living the life
described in the Bible? Do you grieve that you are bound and are
a prisoner of the sin that dwells within you? If you can answer yes,
you will be comforted because your godly sorrow will produce
repentance, which leads to action, to obedience and, ultimately,
to salvation – to life.

13. To be meek means that you stop putting yourself first and make
doing God’s will your first priority. It means that you make sure
that you are not filling yourself with so many other things that
you can’t hear or see how He is guiding you. It means you take
the time to read in the Bible and to pray so that you find out how
to live for Him. When you get to know His will then you can
always do the right thing.

14. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are those who
admit their need for it – they acknowledge their own emptiness. In
other words, they see that in the situations of life they do not have
it within themselves to do things righteously. However, they have a
longing to do and speak what is right in every situation, just as
their Master did. This causes a hunger and thirst – a need for
righteousness.

15. When you faithfully overcome all things that are contrary to mercy –
suspicion, judgement, hardness, condemnation, malice, etc. – then
you will gain mercy as an indwelling fruit of the Spirit. It becomes a
very part of your nature. That in itself makes you a blessed person.

16. With a pure, thankful heart you see God in everything. You see Him in
the trials, you see Him in the blessings, you see Him in the everyday
details of life, you see Him in the big situations. This is truly blessed!
And someday you will stand before Him with a pure heart and a clean
conscience and see Him as He is!

17. The only thing you do not try to make peace with is sin. But even then,
your battle is not with people, but against “principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual
hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12.) It is
only in overcoming sin that peace is found.

18. When you persist relentlessly in doing righteousness,
without yielding an inch, being faithful to Christ in
everything, you are greatly blessed. It shouldn’t matter
what people say or do to you.

19. God has placed in our
hearts such an infinite
desire for happiness
that nothing can satisfy
it but God himself.

20. We become happy by
trusting in Jesus’ words
in the Beatitudes. It is
the heart of Jesus
teaching. The
Beatitudes’ real face is
only one: the face of
Jesus.

21. The life Jesus followed while He was on earth was the life filled with
the Beatitudes. His life was a most happy and fulfilling life ever lived:
He was poor for those in poverty, He was happy for those who
rejoiced, He wept with those who were grieving.

22. Jesus was the meekest of
men, He admonished us: no
to violence but turn the
other cheek instead (see
Matthew 5:39). His is an
advocacy for peace, and
thereby shows us the sure
way to heaven.

23. Eternal happiness depends highly on the
kind of life we live on earth.

24. The Beatitudes are the
standards for how we
ought to relate with
every good on earth:
to use all in view of
our salvation and to
reject the call to abuse
God’s creation.

25. FREEDOM

29. Deciding in favour
of evil apparently
makes one free but
evil does not make
us happy;
deviating from the moral
law (what is right and
good) is a deprivation of
claiming for the truth, and
ultimately evil deeds
destroy our freedom.

30. A decision in favor of
the good is always a
decision leading
toward God. Christ
wants us to be “set free
for freedom” (see Gal
5:1) and to become
capable of brotherly
love

34. 1812 The human virtues are rooted in the theological virtues, which
adapt man's faculties for participation in the divine nature: for the
theological virtues relate directly to God. They dispose Christians to
live in a relationship with the Holy Trinity. They have the One and
Triune God for their origin, motive, and object.
1813 The theological virtues are the foundation of Christian moral
activity; they animate it and give it its special character. They inform
and give life to all the moral virtues. They are infused by God into the
souls of the faithful to make them capable of acting as his children and
of meriting eternal life. They are the pledge of the presence and
action of the Holy Spirit in the faculties of the human being.