By Andy Tan
MALACCA — “The Holy Spirit is given to you in the Sacrament of Confirmation to enable you to make good choices and decisions throughout your life. Whether we eventually end up in heaven or not is a logical consequence of the choices we make throughout our lifetime.”
This was the solemn advice communicated by the Deacon Professor Dr Sherman Kuek OFS, permanent deacon of the Malacca Johor Diocese, to the 20 young people from Melaka preparing to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation in a couple of months. The Confirmation Camp took place on June 10 and 11, at the Church of St Theresa, joined by young people from three parishes.
On the first day of the camp, the speaker shared with the participants about how human beings were as much spiritual beings as they were physical beings. He emphasised that it was important for them to be aware of the spiritual world and to be in constant communication with God and be guided by their guardian angels whom God had specially created for them.
Deacon Sherman also spoke about how humanity, since creation, had a history of infidelity towards God even though they were created to know God and to be in eternal friendship with Him. And yet, God had never given up hope in the redemption of His creation. From one generation to another, He sought out and used righteous people to be instruments of redemption for their generation. The speaker demonstrated this pattern from the Scriptures by retelling the stories of Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and David. He also explained the role of the prophets in Israel during the exile while the nation awaited the coming of the promised Messiah.
On the second day, the participants were enlightened on the role of Jesus Christ as the fulfilment of God’s salvation plan for humanity and all of creation. The mission of Jesus, that is, the restoration of the kingdom of God, was explained in detail. The significance of His passion, crucifixion, death, and resurrection was also highlighted. Together with that, the speaker emphasised that it was important for us as Christians to have certainty of the resurrection of Christ. He explained that the Christian faith was as much a scientific faith as it was a spiritual one, and that the fact of Christ’s resurrection had strong credible evidence that would have withstood scrutiny in the court of law.
At the end of day two, Deacon Sherman concluded the camp by emphasising once again that the participants, upon receiving the Holy Spirit in Confirmation, had to seriously consider what kind of choices they would make in their lives. He said that each one of them did not exist by accident, and that God had planned for them to be alive at this particular time in human history because He had a specific plan for them.
With Christ’s mission having been fulfilled, the redemption of creation being a certainty, and the Holy Spirit being given to them in Confirmation, they were now empowered to make a choice to cooperate with God’s specific plan for each one of them. According to Deacon Sherman, the specific way in which we were called to cooperate with God’s plan for the redemption of the world was called “vocation”, and each person had to discover what his/her specific vocation was in life.
