My dear brothers and
sisters in Christ:
“Be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit.” While pronouncing these words, the bishop anoints a person to be confirmed on the forehead with Holy Chrism after praying that “Almighty God, Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ… send upon them… the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete” (The Order of Confirmation, 2016).
During the Easter Season, it has been my privilege to confirm many of our young sisters and brothers in the celebration of the holy sacrament of Confirmation and to bestow upon them the gifts of the Holy Spirit: “the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and piety; fill them with the spirit of the fear of the Lord (the spirit of wonder and awe in His presence)” (ibid.). As our young people continue their lives journeys, I pray that they remain close to Our Lord and call upon Him as they navigate their way in a very complex world. I also am grateful to the parents, sponsors, parish priests, religious education coordinators and teachers who supported our young people in reaching this important moment in their lives. Of course, I always try to impress upon them the very important and essential necessity to attend Holy Mass each week, which gives them the unique, transcendent and sacramental strength of the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Most Holy Eucharist. Congratulations to our recently confirmed brothers and sisters and may the parish communities and our Catholic schools continue to support them in nurturing our Catholic faith.
During this same Easter Season, many of our young children received their first Holy Communion, a moment that so impresses everyone, even those whose relationship with the Lord may be somewhat fragile. This most solemn occasion brings so many of us back to the time of our own first Holy Communion and the joy that was in our hearts on that day. With the passing of time that memory may grow dim, but what always remains is our heart’s desire for union with Jesus, whether conscious or unconscious.
The celebrations of first Holy Communion are really an opportunity for the adult community to understand more deeply our common responsibility in the parish, in our Catholic schools and religious-education programs to assist our children in understanding, appreciating and welcoming Jesus into their hearts at Holy Mass every week. How sad it is that our young people are deprived of this great gift when parents do not bring them to Church each week. Faithful attendance at Holy Mass is so very important, since it allows our children at a young age to come to know and to love Jesus. Our young people need to see the adult community regularly and reverently participating in the Church’s most perfect prayer, the Eucharistic Sacrifice. The splendor of that first Holy Communion Day must be kept alive and repeated again and again.
In his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on the Eucharist, Sacramentum Caritatis (“Sacrament of Charity,” Feb. 27, 2007), Pope Benedict XVI, of beloved memory, wrote: “I also recommend that, in their catechetical training, and especially in their preparation for First Holy Communion, children be taught the meaning and the beauty of spending time with Jesus, and help to cultivate a sense of awe before His presence in the Eucharist” (No. 67).
This time of the year is also marked by many graduations, as our young people advance to different levels of academic success, some going on to college or pursuing other vocational and occupational opportunities. I pray that as they continue their educations or begin their lives’ work, they remain active in the Church, recall always their first Holy Communions and Confirmations, and that these are not one-day celebrations but forever commitments to remain close to the source of all that is true, the One who is Truth itself, namely Jesus Christ.
In his address to the College of Cardinals on Saturday, May 10, 2025, His Holiness, Pope Leo XIV, spoke these words: “It is the Risen Lord, present among us, who protects and guides the Church, and continues to fill her with hope through the love ‘poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us’ (Rom 5:5). It is up to us to be docile listeners to His voice and faithful ministers of His plan of salvation, mindful that God loves to communicate Himself, not in the roar of thunder and earthquakes, but in the ‘whisper of a gentle breeze’ (1 Kings 19:12) or, as some translate it, in a ‘sound of sheer silence.’ It is this essential and important encounter to which we must guide and accompany all the holy People of God entrusted to our care.” I unite with Pope Leo XIV in hoping that our young people are always attentive to God’s word and allow the gifts of the Holy Spirit to direct their decisions, enabling them to choose the path that leads to holiness and wholeness of life.
Union with Jesus also means union with the Church. In that very same address, Pope Leo XIV quite eloquently shared these reflections with the cardinals: “In these days, we have been able to see the beauty and feel the strength of this immense community, which with such affection and devotion has greeted and mourned its Shepherd (Pope Francis), accompanying him with faith and prayer at the time of his final encounter with the Lord. We have seen the true grandeur of the Church, which is alive in the rich variety of her members in union with her one Head, Christ, ‘the shepherd and guardian’ (1 Peter 2:25) of our souls. She is the womb from which we were born and at the same time the flock (cf. Jn 21:15-17), the field (cf. Mk 4:1-20) entrusted to us to protect and cultivate, to nourish with the sacraments of salvation and to make fruitful by our sowing the seed of the Word, so that, steadfast in one accord and enthusiastic in mission, she may press forward, like the Israelites in the desert, in the shadow of the cloud and in the light of God’s fire (cf. Ex 13:21).” This reflection is particularly pertinent to our campus ministry programs. I hope that those engaged in ministry to our collegians will help the young adults whom they serve find in the Eucharist the very presence of Jesus always there to support them as they discern and find their lives’ work and vocations in the years ahead and become true, active participants in the life of the Church, which gives them the awesome gift of the Blessed Sacrament.
While writing about these very important events in the lives of our children and young adults, I wish to express my deep appreciation for those who have accepted the vocations of motherhood and fatherhood, cooperating with God first in bringing this precious new life into the world and then being for your children a constant support, making untold sacrifices on their behalf and creating a place for them in your hearts which lasts throughout your earthly lives. Take courage in these words of Benedict XVI: “God alone will give you, dear married couples, the strength to raise your family as he wants. Ask it of him! God loves to be asked for what he wishes to give. Ask him for the grace of a true and ever more faithful love patterned after his own. As the Psalm magnificently puts it: his love is established for ever, his loyalty will stand as long as the heavens (Ps 88:3)” (Homily of Pope Benedict XVI on the Solemnity of St. Joseph, March 19, 2009).
In this month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, I entrust you to His loving heart, which never ceases to embrace us with true love, which is real, ever-present, constant and without end. That heart burns with love for all who call upon Him!
Thanking God for your gift of faith and with an assurance of my continued prayers and invoking the intercession of Our Mother Mary and our Diocesan Patron, St. John Fisher, I remain
Devotedly yours in Christ,
The Most Reverend
Salvatore R. Matano
Bishop of Rochester
