My history with my Catholic faith is long and involves many twists and turns. I’ll spare you most of the details, except for those pertaining to the sacrament of Confirmation.
As a freshmen in high school, I began the journey towards getting confirmed, by attending weekly Religious Education classes. At that point in my faith development, I was sort of blindly doing what my parents told me do. They weren’t forceful, we were all just following the “rules” and not really asking why.
Sophomore year things changed. Marching band practice conflicted with my Religious Education schedule. At that time, I had aspirations to be a band teacher, so the decision was made to discontinue Religious Education and not get confirmed.
I didn’t become a band teacher and my lack of confirmation commitment did not bother me for many years. Cut to present day, or 2011, more accurately, when the Pilot and I were preparing for our marriage. During that year, my Catholic faith continued to grow and my beliefs strengthened, so as I prepared for the sacrament of Marriage, I started to feel as though, I missed a step.
Luckily, my church offers an adult Confirmation class, for those of us who have received the sacraments prior to Confirmation, therefore making RCIA incredibly redundant. I had the best intentions at the start of 2012 to participate in that class and be Confirmed last year, but an old pattern resurfaced and a work commitment conflicted with the class schedule and I chose work over Confirmation.
This year it became a true priority because I hope the Pilot and I start a family in the future and I would like to be Confirmed before I Baptize my future children. I also like that I am truly making this decision as an informed adult, instead of a teenager doing what her parents ask her to do. To me that makes this process so much more meaningful and spiritually driven.
I am committed to it now and changed my work schedule accordingly. I have been to 3 classes and will be Confirmed in April!
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