You Promised

One

The Harvest is Ready, but the Laborers are Few

Listen to this verse at the end of Matthew, chapter 9, “And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

So Jesus is carrying out his public ministry, preaching, healing, praying, and building up the kingdom of God and it just hits Him how many people need help. All those who have yet to be brought into the kingdom, brought into God’s family in union with Christ. There are so many people in the world! And all of them are designed for happiness, for holiness, for intimacy with the Lord. And look how lost so many of them are! Wandering through life, totally clueless, like sheep without a shepherd.

So then Jesus tells his disciples that He can’t be the only one to do this work. He says to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. (Matthew 9: 37-38).

All Jesus’ disciples, all of us, have to work in the fields. All of us have to work with Christ, in building up the kingdom. It’s a big, big world – a big, big harvest. And we are all supposed to be laborers. The sacrament that empowers us to be laborers with Christ is the sacrament of confirmation.

Two

Confirmation vs. Baptism

We can really understand the Sacrament of Confirmation by comparing it with the Sacrament of Baptism. Because, of course, confirmation is what fully unlocks or completes baptism. Baptism is the sacrament of birth. It’s the sacrament that sanctifies our being. But confirmation is the sacrament of growing up. It’s the sacrament that sanctifies our action.

Baptism is like becoming a citizen of the Church. But with Confirmation, we are expected to become productive members of the Church. With Baptism, we get the benefits of being Catholic. But with Confirmation, we are meant to shoulder the responsibilities of being Catholic.

A child receives, and baptism allows us to receive the gifts of God in all their fullness. But we are also called to mature in the Lord and a mature person wants to give back, to do their part, to help out. 

When we are confirmed, we promise, we pledge, to serve Christ and His Church, to be a worker at the harvest, as Priests, prophets, and kings.

Three

Priest, Prophet, King

The three-fold task, or “triple-munera” is one of the main ways of understanding how to serve God.

The priest is the one who offers sacrifice to the Lord. That’s what the priest did in the Old Testament. That’s what priests do today, in the mass. That’s why Christ is the supreme priest, because He not only offers the sacrifice, He is the sacrifice. The king is the one who governs on behalf of the Lord. That’s why there was a king in the Old Testament. That’s why we have bishops or episkopoi, which means “overseer” in Greek, in the Church today. That’s why Christ is the supreme King, because He not only gives the law, but He Himself is the standard of the Law. We must love and live as He loved and lived.

And the prophet is the one who speaks God’s truth. That’s what the prophets did in the Old Testament. That’s why we have a pope with the gift of infallibility today. That’s why Christ is the supreme Prophet, because he not only speaks the truth of God, He is the Truth of God (“I am the way, the truth, and the life”).

So when we are confirmed, we are promising that we will offer sacrifices, that we will govern for Christ, and that we will speak God’s truth. That’s how we work with Christ in building up the kingdom of God.

Four

Offer Sacrifice, Govern, Proclaim God’s truth

We are called to be priests by offering sacrifice. That means participating in the sacrifice of the mass. It also means offering up our involuntary sufferings and our voluntary mortifications because, when offered to Christ, those sacrifices can save souls.

We are called to be Kings for Christ. That means, above all, governing ourselves, and growing in the self-mastery of virtue. It also means using any authority we have as representatives of Christ, to build up the kingdom. Our authority as parents needs to be exercised in a way that promotes the gospel and the truth of our faith. We need to serve Christ in our professional roles. And we need to vote like Catholics because we are kings and our royalty in Christ should affect every area in which we exercise leadership or authority.

Finally, we are called to be Prophets for Christ. That means we spread the Gospel by word and deed. We catechize our kids. We let people know what we believe. We let them know, above all, that we are comfortable talking about the faith. We look for opportunities to spread the truth of Jesus, the only truth that saves.

This is what it means to be a confirmed Catholic. Whether you knew it at the time or not, this is what you promised when you received that sacrament.

Five

God’s Coworkers

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus told his disciples to pray for laborers to work with Him. In his first letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul shows us that this prayer is fulfilled in the work of the Church. Paul says, “For we are God’s co-workers” (I Cor 3:9).

We are God’s coworkers. We have been selected and equipped to work side-by-side with Christ Himself by the sacrament of confirmation. And there is much work to be done. So ask yourself whether you could better seize your opportunities to work with Christ in the fields by sacrifice, by governance, and by evangelization. 

Ask Christ to make you a better priest, king, and prophet, so that people may be saved, and the Kingdom enriched by souls returned to the Lord.