[speaker001:] How did you get on last... week?
[Peter:] Er we won two games and lost the other two. [LAUGHTER]
[Elizabeth:] Smashing. Right. Well, well not smashing that you lost two, right. Can we just get the prayer out and start by saying the prayer together please.... You haven't got it. Use use.
[Peter:] [LAUGHTER]
[Elizabeth:] Right okay.
[speaker001:] [reading] Pour out your spirit upon your people and grant us a new vision of your glory, a new experience of your power, a new faithfulness to your word, a new consecration to your service, that your love may grow among us and your kingdom come. Through Christ, Our Lord. Amen. []
[Elizabeth:] Right. Now last week and on Sunday we talked about again about the seven... gifts of the Holy Spirit. Can you remember any of them? Did you do the work on Saint Stephen by the way?
[Peter:] ... Er
[Elizabeth:] The first martyr?
[Peter:] No I don't think s no.
[Elizabeth:] Have you got it from last wee the week before?
[Peter:] Yeah, I think so.
[Elizabeth:] You were supposed to read through it and have a look. If you want to It's at the very back, I can see it.
[Peter:] Oh no. No I haven't done that....
[Elizabeth:] Right. Well i that was to sort of try and make you focus on the gifts of the Holy Spirit that we're going to receive, that we receive through... or that you have strengthened through Confirmation, rather than receiving because they're already there. They have to be already there or... it doesn't er really work. Right erm [sigh]... Can you think can you remember any of the gifts that we talked about?
[Peter:] Er
[Elizabeth:] I know it's a week and a half ago but.... [LAUGHTER] See what you can try.
[Peter:] Is it like an anoint an erm anointing?
[Elizabeth:] No the gifts that you receive or...
[Peter:] Erm... No.
[Elizabeth:] Do you want to get out the sheet then with the gifts on that we lo you looked at. I keep saying we looked at cos I looked at it on Sunday and
[Peter:] This one?
[Elizabeth:] Yes, that's
[Peter:] Yeah.
[Elizabeth:] right. Right they're the sort of they're... the go they're good titles. [reading] Wisdom, understanding, right judgement, courage, knowledge, awe and wonder and reverence. [] They're sort of things to focus on points of focus within when you're receiving Confirmation of the ways in which through Confirmation you can enhance the gifts which you already have and focus in on the power of the Holy Spirit through those gifts.... Right. Erm... if you have a look at the the Stephen, we'll go over I think the Stephen first martyr because... without that really I think that'd be quite a good focus of... of er... for the talking about the gifts. Right. Have you read the story? Do you know the story of Stephen?
[Peter:] Erm... I'm not sure.
[Elizabeth:] Mm. Do you want to just quickly read it through? There's no point in me reading it out is there? Just want to read it Don't bother writing it, we'll just read
[Peter:] Mm.
[Elizabeth:] it and talk about it and you can write it in some other time.
[Peter:] Mm....
[Elizabeth:] Read it?...
[Peter:] Yeah.
[Elizabeth:] Read it?
[Peter:] Right.
[Elizabeth:] Now that says [reading] Stephen was a man filled with the Holy Spirit. His death an life and death showed the power of the Holy Spirit working in him. He showed the gifts of the Holy Spirit. He sto showed the gift of what when he spoke out fearlessly? []
[Peter:] ... Erm
[Elizabeth:] What would you say? Look at the
[Peter:] Courage.
[Elizabeth:] That's right. Or that's a good. The Stephen They're not all I mean I'm saying that's right but that some of them there are more than one answer to. But erm sometimes That that was pretty obv that's an obvious one I should say. [reading] She Stephen showed the gift of something when he preached the truth about God and the message of... Jesus. [] What would you say?...
[Peter:] Right judgement.
[Elizabeth:] Right judgement? Yeah.... Right and the next one then. [reading] Stephen, faced the difficult choice between life and the love of God, showed the gift of []...
[Peter:] Reverence....
[Elizabeth:] Mm. Yeah it is reverent, to be reverence, yes.... [reading] Power to love God and each other as we should. [] Yeah. But...
[Peter:] Right.
[Elizabeth:] It it's a difficult choice between life and love of God.... Had to choose. What would you do if you're choosing? Don't you think that's more right judgement?
[Peter:] Yeah.
[Elizabeth:] Because that's you know he's he's making the right choice making the right judgemen judgement.
[Peter:] Yeah.
[Elizabeth:] Right. [reading] Stephen showed the gift of what when he forgave his executioners? Even then he still loved them. [] It might not be there, there are other ones. They're just useful headings, but if you can think of something else... What would you say? Con you think of anything else?
[Peter:] Understanding.
[Elizabeth:] Understanding yeah. Mercy really isn't it? He showed mercy I mean he
[Peter:] Yeah.
[Elizabeth:] showed mercy on them even though they did not show mercy on him. Right the rest of them I don't really want to go through it too much because that's... that was just to show you an example. Can you think of any... more modern day... people that you think... could inspire you and can show the gifts of the Holy Spirit in their lives? I mean Stephen is a heck of a long time ago, he's the very first martyr, and we although we celebrate his feast day still on December the twenty sixth because he is the first martyr, he's quite a long way away. Although a lot of his story is still relevant to us cos you can see it in today's life when people stand up for themselves or stand up for their faith or what they believe in and you look around you, you can see violence and being done to them. But can you think of anybody... for yourself who you could think of who... over the recently or over the in the past few centuries or closer to home have shown the gifts of the Holy Spirit in their lives?...
[Peter:] Well the Prime Minister right right judgement and wisdom.
[Elizabeth:] Most of the time. [LAUGHTER]
[Peter:] [LAUGHTER].
[Elizabeth:] No I mean er yeah okay, fair enough. But can you think of anyone who stands out as being somebody who really does their bit and yet does it possibly with humility or... erm... I'm thinking of rather than saying sort of a general terminology of sort of Prime Ministers or what have you, erm I'm thinking if you can think of a a particular person?...
[Peter:] Father Chris.
[Elizabeth:] Oh I'm sure he'd be very pleased to hear that. Yeah. Smashing. Anybody a bit more famous?... [LAUGHTER]... I'm sure Father Chris would be pleased to hear that and would be very flattered to hear that as well but erm... he's erm I'm sure he does try to live by those rules because er obviously... that's one of the bases of his life but erm I was thinking more in terms of somebody who stood up for themse stood up for what they believe in... in a situation where it was difficult. Cos with the best will in the world Father Chris really doesn't face an awful lot of opposition does he?
[Peter:] Yeah.
[Elizabeth:] You know where he lives in England we're very quite a generally quite a tolerant or comparatively quite a tolerant society. Or somebody has stood up and done their best for their particular... community or somebody's stood up and done their best to Or has moved to somewhere.... Any ideas? Any suggestions? No? [LAUGHTER] Mother Theresa?
[Peter:] Yeah. Mm.
[Elizabeth:] Yeah?
[Peter:] Yeah.
[Elizabeth:] You know about Mother Theresa do you?
[Peter:] Yeah.
[Elizabeth:] Right. Her whole... point in life is that people criticize her because she does... erm she can only actually look after a very small percentage of the people in Calcutta who need help and they all sort of say, Well she does that bit but what about the rest of them? And she says that she does what she can in her own way, she tries her best to do what she can to help. Right. Erm obviously it's not just those who are famous who show the power of the Spirit in their lives, you know everybody does. There are different ways of doing it with different people erm who do share it. There's a few examples here, Mother Theresa was one that sprung sprang to my mind when I was thinking it through. Erm [cough]... Can you show can you tell me any ways in which you I presume you know about Mother Theresa you know quite a bit about her life do you?
[Peter:] I just like know she helps people in Calcutta and helps the poor in
[Elizabeth:] Yeah. She does she goes out and she also goes round and... she fund raises for her own for her own er work as well. Not so much now because of ill health but she used to. She speaks out, she lets people know... what's happening. So can you tell me looking at those seven could you tell me which... you would say immediately comes to mind with Mother Theresa?...
[Peter:] Understanding.
[Elizabeth:] Yeah.
[Peter:] Mm.
[Elizabeth:] Definitely why? How?
[Peter:] Cos she understands that she's got to help God I mean people around her that are suffering.
[Elizabeth:] Yeah. Any others?
[Peter:] Courage to stand up for er erm what she believes in.
[Elizabeth:] Yeah. Any others?...
[Peter:] Right judgement.
[Elizabeth:] How?
[Peter:] Well she's erm... j erm... She's made a right judgement about erm... to help people and not just to sit there watching telly or something.
[Elizabeth:] Yeah. So she's doing something Er it is in a difficult situation and she knows what to do. Yeah. Any others any other gifts that you think she's shown that aren't on there?
[Peter:] Love for the people around her.
[Elizabeth:] That's right. And through her love also she shows great respect because the people that she's dealing with are considered in Indian society to be the dregs of humanity. Indian er in India still has a very class-ridden society and er you know from the... the top caste do not even associate with the lower castes and there is a terrific there's still a terrific sense of that. I was talking to a friend of mine actually on Monday who is erm parti partially Indian and come from India and from Calcutta and she is high caste but she's a Catholic as well so she's her attitude's different she's lived in England most of her life but she can't get over the attitude of some of her relatives in India to the poor because they're lower caste. It's still there. Right. I want to just have a look at this. It's a two-part thing. Erm... it's erm this is people or stories but a based again I'm sure when y as you read through you'll probably find quite a lot of the erm little things that they're giving you here you could relate to in your own life, either for yourself or for other people that you know. Erm... if you have a look through them and then have a quick write down of what gifts you think the different ones that are mentioned in this are using. Okay?.
[Peter:] Should I write down?
[Elizabeth:] Yeah, write on it and see what you think.
[Peter:] Mm.
[Elizabeth:] Sorry you can't work in pairs which is what they [LAUGHTER] did on Sunday []. I suppose you could you could work with me but er... I don't think that's quite the idea. Unless you want to just discuss it and mark it down as we're going through.... Try to think not just of those, although they can u you can use those as guidelines. Try and think of any others... that er...
[Peter:] re be respect? Cos er
[Elizabeth:] Yes. That's a good one.... Anything else?...
[Peter:] Understanding cos
[Elizabeth:] Mm.
[Peter:] she understands...
[Elizabeth:] Any others?... Not on there really.
[Peter:] Friendship.
[Elizabeth:] Yeah.......
[Peter:] Courage to like...
[Elizabeth:] Mm. Yeah I agree with you because it is sometimes quite difficult for somebody who's handicapped to find the courage to go out.
[Peter:] Mm.
[Elizabeth:] If they go into town together, yeah. That's a good one. Actually I don't think that one cropped up last week on Sunday. I don't think anybody said courage for her. I think they said friendship and respect and understanding but I don't think anybody said courage. What else is Kirsty using there?
[Peter:] Friendship
[Elizabeth:] Friendship yeah obviously yeah.... It's a shame actually they don't say how... with cerebral palsy it can be a mild handicap or a major handicap. I mean it can be aware you can be aware of somebody with cerebral palsy having cerebral palsy and you can also be totally unaware that they have it. Yeah I agree with you. Right the second one, do you want to have a look at the second one?...
[Peter:] Right judgement
[Elizabeth:] Yeah I would s I would guess so or I would think so as well.... I'm not really doing that right because I mean I shouldn't agree I... What you say is right whether I [LAUGHTER] agree with it or not []. I said, Oh yes that's right [LAUGHTER] yeah, but it's not right [].
[Peter:] [LAUGHTER].
[Elizabeth:] It is right but it's not that's not the whole point of this exercise. The point is for you to think decide what you think. Right. Did their form teacher use any gifts?... How could the form teacher have approached this?
[Peter:] could have said... No it'll cost a lot of money or something.
[Elizabeth:] Yeah. What did he actually do?
[Peter:] Did she did did something about it and...
[Elizabeth:] So what did the form teacher do? They came up with the idea, what did the form teacher do?
[Peter:] Put it into action.
[Elizabeth:] I don't think he actually d or she whichever it is... the form teacher actually did that did they? It was the two boys who s who set up put it into action. So what did the form teacher actually do?
[Peter:] Gave them permission to erm
[Elizabeth:] So... Yeah?
[Peter:] I mean he didn't really give He was only you know just like erm... just used his authority just to say Yeah.
[Elizabeth:] So what's Yeah but he could have turned round and said No, so what's he actually done?
[Peter:] Understand standing
[Elizabeth:] Understanding and?
[Peter:] Erm...
[Elizabeth:] Encouragement isn't it. I mean he's actually encouraged them, he's said, Yes okay fine, go ahead, let's sort it out, let's do something about it. Joined possibly joined in with them although it doesn't actually say.
[Peter:] Mm.
[Elizabeth:] It says [reading] They talked to their form teacher about this and have formed a tree planting group in school []. I presume it means John and Andy have formed a tree planting group in school not the teacher. But he did use the gift of encouragement didn't he?
[Peter:] Yeah.
[Elizabeth:] And knowl er what did you say?
[Peter:] Er
[Elizabeth:] one you said?
[Peter:] Understanding, mm.
[Elizabeth:] Understanding, yeah.... What about the rest of the class?
[Peter:] Did they did they join the tree
[Elizabeth:] Well presumably if they started a [LAUGHTER] tr a group haven't they []. So what were they doing?...
[Peter:] Erm helping.
[Elizabeth:] That's right. Helping. They were encouraging again,
[Peter:] Mm.
[Elizabeth:] weren't they, and erm... supporting helping them and supporting them weren't they? Because they could have turned round Er they wouldn't have got as much done if there'd just been the two boys together.... Yeah?
[Peter:] Mm....
[Elizabeth:] Any others?... Right okay. read it through.... What would you say what gifts is Mr Richardson Richards using
[Peter:] Courage to
[Elizabeth:] Courage yeah
[Peter:] to
[Elizabeth:] Yeah yeah that's a good one that I don't think that one came up either last time. That's really good so courage yeah what else?... He's telling stories probably about the past what is he showing?... And what will she be should we be ready to see in older people?... What about wisdom?... What do you think? That's one that struck me.
[Peter:] Yeah.
[Elizabeth:] Yeah do you agree with me or not. If you don't agree with me please say I won't be offended at all if you disagree. Because often I mean wisdom to help us to judge no not really judging is he? He is using wisdom and er his wisdom of life or knowledge of like perhaps rather than wisdom. I meant wisdom in the other meaning. Knowledge of life cos he's talking to his grandson. Telling stories.
[Peter:] Erm
[Elizabeth:] Right if you don't agree don't er do say please do say because if you don't agree I'd rather hear your views Yeah? Okay. Right what gifts is Mike using?
[Peter:] Love
[Elizabeth:] Yeah.
[Peter:] because so he can just like pop in every day
[Elizabeth:] Mm.
[Peter:] .
[Elizabeth:] Good. Anything else?...
[Peter:] Understanding.
[Elizabeth:] Yeah I think that's very important that one because he understands he sees the loneliness that his grandfather's feeling. He's sufficiently aware to know that er he can't get out much, he's on his own, he's lonely especially if he's not in very good health. So he can't do ou he can't go out and about. anything else?
[Peter:] Right judgement cos
[Elizabeth:] Mm.... What else they usually have a good laugh....
[Peter:] Friendship.
[Elizabeth:] Mm yeah. They're friends aren't they.
[Peter:] Mm.
[Elizabeth:] They usually have a good laugh sense of humour any of those. Right don't need to write all those down let's have a look at the next one then.... Right gifts is using?
[Peter:] Understanding she understands....
[Elizabeth:] What else do she do?... How would you feel about standing up in front of a group of people and telling them something about I mean in her situation telling her class or even the whole what you were doing.
[Peter:] I think scared.
[Elizabeth:] So what's she showing there if she's
[Peter:] Courage.
[Elizabeth:] Yeah I think so.
[Peter:] And
[Elizabeth:] Some people some people it wouldn't bother but erm as she's not trained to be a speaker, she's a voluntary worker. I mean we don't whether she sort of it doesn't say whether she volunteered to go and talk to the people in the school, but even so it's quite it takes quite a lot of doing to stand up in front of a group of people you don't know and talk about the work. What gifts is the young man using?.......
[Peter:] Determination to do erm
[Elizabeth:] Good yeah that's a smashing one that didn't come up on Sunday either determination yeah.... What else? Anything else?... What about hope?
[Peter:] Mm.
[Elizabeth:] Yeah?
[Peter:] Yeah.
[Elizabeth:] There's one thing that struck me right. What gifts are Maria and Peter doing?
[speaker001:] Mummy
[Elizabeth:] Using? No, go away, I'm teaching, go away.
[speaker001:] ?
[Elizabeth:] No. Go on then yes, be back for seven o'clock.... What gifts are Maria and Peter using?...
[Peter:] Helping
[Elizabeth:] Helping yeah, great, helping others....
[Peter:] And supporting.
[Elizabeth:] Supporting him yeah, great.... What gifts are their friends using?...
[Peter:] Helping again.
[Elizabeth:] Yeah....
[Peter:] Understanding and
[Elizabeth:] Yeah.
[Peter:] they understand that erm he needs somebody to
[Elizabeth:] Yeah, yeah.... And they see the purpose for what Maria and Peter's doing aren't they and they're
[Peter:] Mm.
[Elizabeth:] helping. Yeah. Smashing. Right and we'll leave the other sheet for now so's you can have a look at that yourself if you would at some stage and just erm go through it. And at this poi point on Sunday we did a break and refreshment but you can forget about that cos I'm [LAUGHTER] gonna carry straight on []. Okay, is that alright?
[Peter:] Yeah.
[Elizabeth:] Right okay. Now... erm... all the gifts that you give at Confirmation the whole idea of Confirmation in well one of the main ideas of Confirmation is taking on board for yourself what your parents promised for you in baptism. Yeah? And erm... the... we are given or they h one of the reasons or the purposes behind Confirmation is to give us the strength to use the gifts which God's al has already given us. And it's like the story of the... erm I think it was the servant... parable of the servant with the talents. Do you know the story I mean the parable I mean?
[Peter:] No.
[Elizabeth:] Well the servants three servants are given... one talent and their master tells them to... erm do with it what they could in a certain space of time and he would reward them. And one of the servants takes his one talent and he uses it and he works very hard with it and he buys erm raw goods and he makes things and he he a makes his one talent up into ten. And the second servant doesn't do quite as well,... he erm but he manages to make five talents out of his one talent. And the third servant says Well no if I if I go out and buy something something might go wrong and I'll lose the talent, and so he hides it away in the drawer. So when the master comes back and says to then What have you done with your talents? one the first servant shouts, Here, here are ten for your one, Here are five for your one, and he's very cross with the third servant because he said, What's the purpose of giving me giving you this money if all you're going to do is hide it in the drawer? And it's the same idea in Confirmation that the gifts which you are given are not given just for yourself, they're given to be used, and there's no point in keeping them to yourself, you know. They are to be used and shared with other people, and that's how one of the ways in which we live... a Christian life. We might do it amongst our family, we can do it er by you know helping within the family, you can do it by helping in the community, all sorts of different ways. You might be called to do it some other way as you get older. That's up to depends on what happens really.... Right Confirmation is a call from God. Right? You understand that idea. We call that a vocation. That word is called a vocation. I'm sure you've heard or have you heard about priests when say a priest has a vocation, a call from God?
[Peter:] When they renew their erm... mm. Erm... no. Er what what's it what's it called when they renew their erm... their promise to God being a priest?
[Elizabeth:] Well that's just no that's I think that's just a renewal of vows.
[Peter:] Mm.
[Elizabeth:] But a vocation is... a call from God. Erm that's what the word means the word means a call from God. And erm... the work that you're asked to do the prop the word for it I mean we use wh wh really what I'm t teaching you now is the vocabulary that is used and which will actually be used during the service. The call from God is a vocation and the the work that you're asked to do is your mission. Erm in actual fact I don't w I work in a non-catholic school. And one of the things that erm they're talking about at the moment is making their mission statement. And that's the equivalent of our R E syllabus [LAUGHTER] in a catholic school []. But er it's a mission statement, it's the mission is the work that you're asked to do. And there's a bit of fun for you. So if we just go through these and then you can find them in the word search if you like. A call from God is a?
[Peter:] Vocation.
[Elizabeth:] Vocation.... God's call is a call to?...
[Peter:] [LAUGHTER]...
[Elizabeth:] Mission, yeah.
[Peter:] mission?
[Elizabeth:] [LAUGHTER] mission []. It doesn't make sense that does it.... Yeah it's called to a miss er to mission. That's the wor that's wor that's what the word is. The work we're asked to do. Right so the word is mission for there.... Right. receive God's call Come on go through these first and then we'll do them af I'll let you do the word search. We call it the sacrament
[Peter:] Bap
[Elizabeth:] of... Baptism. Yeah.... Yeah....
[Peter:] ?
[Elizabeth:] Yeah. And Holy and Spirit are two separate words in the word search. [LAUGHTER]
[Peter:] [LAUGHTER]....
[Elizabeth:] How many?
[Peter:] Seven.
[Elizabeth:] ... Right. Only it's not written like that in there
[Peter:] Yeah.
[Elizabeth:] it's written in [LAUGHTER] You can do the word search Yeah I don't do you want to do the word search now?
[Peter:] No I'll do it
[Elizabeth:] Okay right.... Fine. Erm... now Kay actually had a big... er you know the stand she usually does
[Peter:] Mm.
[Elizabeth:] and erm I meant to er well she said she'd bring it back to me and then I said Well no don't bother I'll sort something out myself and then I forgot all about it. So what I'll I'll explain to you what was on there. There were pictures of... Bosnia, Ireland erm there was a picture of a little girl crying with er a friend stood next to her. There was a picture of some people being crushed in a lorry in Bosnia. And there was a picture who had fallen off one of the lorries in Bosnia erm one of the refugee lorries and was running along trying to catch up with her parents. Erm there was a picture of a starving person in Ethiopia and on top of all those there were superimposed the opposite words love, joy, peace, forgiveness, happiness. have a look at the prayer of Saint Francis now do you know the prayer of Saint Francis?... pob probably do. You might not think you do but you do. Right. Can you uh just read it through. I'll read it aloud because it does make it I think it makes it stick in your mind more. [reading] Lord make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred let me sow love. Where there is injury let me sow pardon. Where there is doubt let me sow faith. Where there is despair let me give hope. Where there is darkness let me give light and where there is sadness let me give joy. [] And obviously each word there each negative word was counteracted by a positive the opposite right. So can you choose one of those lines now, think about it for a minute and then have a look on at this. Erm and see if you can actually fill in the the ideas which are on there. Or the answer the questions which are on there.
[Peter:] ...
[Elizabeth:] Don't worry about it. presentation yeah but we're not doing that. Sorry I've your stopped your train of thought the haven't I.... Right. Fair enough, right. Which line did you look at?
[Peter:] Erm... [reading] Where there's despair let me give hope [].
[Elizabeth:] Right and the negative word is?
[Peter:] Despair.
[Elizabeth:] Yeah. You couldn't think of anything?
[Peter:] ...
[Elizabeth:] Fair enough. That's nice actually. I mean it is nice that you don't know anybody who you feel... might be despairing.... Yeah?
[Peter:] Mm.
[Elizabeth:] So you never felt I mean presumably you never felt that yourself and therefore and also perhaps if you've never come across Fair enough. Right what about in our country?
[Peter:] The people sleeping rough in the streets.
[Elizabeth:] Yeah. Good one. And in the world... going abroad?
[Peter:] Erm Ethiopia starving.
[Elizabeth:] Yeah. Right. Positive word is?
[Peter:] Hope.
[Elizabeth:] Yep. And how can you bring this positive word into the examples you gave as answers to question three? How could you bring hope in?
[Peter:] Hoping that they'll have a home....
[Elizabeth:] Mm....
[Peter:] And giving aid to the people in Ethiopia.
[Elizabeth:] Yeah. True. So how?
[Peter:] How would which one?
[Elizabeth:] Both of them.
[Peter:] By [LAUGHTER] helping [].
[Elizabeth:] How?...
[Peter:] ...
[Elizabeth:] How can you actually... how could you help people who are homeless, you?...
[Peter:] could speak to them and say erm give them some encouragement to go and have a look and see if there's any hostels or something.
[Elizabeth:] Mm. Giving information, yeah, that's a good one. I mean you yourself if you found out if you found some homeless people you could possibly find out where they could go.
[Peter:] Mm.
[Elizabeth:] So...
[Peter:] Erm... I could erm ask the school to collect some money for them.
[Elizabeth:] Mm. That could be for both really
[Peter:] Yeah.
[Elizabeth:] couldn't it going doing taking an active part in charity work within the school or within the community. Yeah great that's smashing. Right. Now this last one here is... called Living the Prayer and it's like the other quite a few of the others, erm but it's for you, it's not for not for us it's not to be shared. But it is just to try and ask you to think... ways in which you could help in this particular way in whichever way there is. [517 1] So... [reading] Today I brought [] and there's an example here [reading] Today I brought joy where there was sadness by cheering up a friend who was fed up. Very simple thing to do and something you possibly would do without even thinking about it. And now we're asking you to focus in... on ways in which you could live the prayer of Saint Francis. Right? For a week. Now if y I mean if you do it you do it and that's it's up to you, but because nobody else will look at it. But to be honest it is a good way of focusing in on what you what we've been talking about tonight and if you can I think it would be worthwhile doing as part of your preparation to help you to think. Cos it i it shouldn't just be your preparation should not just be a one-off hour hour and a half what have you on the Sundays when you come along. Because if you if you if that's all it is then you're just going through the motions, you're not actually going ahead and receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation. I don't feel that it is with any of you. But erm you know that's up to you er you're the only person who knows that. Right, can we actually have a look now the last bit is sort of more the... nitty gritty before we go on to this. Next Sunday is the at the ten thirty mass is the Celebration of Election. Right. Between now and Sunday it's down to you to decide that you definitely want to go ahead and be confirmed. At the Celebration of Enrolment you said Right yes, well I'm prepared to take part in the preparation programme. Now this next Sunday you're preparing and saying Yes I definitely want to go ahead and be confirmed. And it it should be your decision. Erm I know it's easier said than done sometimes but er it has to be your decision because even if you went ahead and were confirmed, we were tal talking about the idea of sometimes parents bring pressure on them on you to go ahead and do it and be confirmed, erm when perhaps you're not don't feel ready for it and it takes a lot of courage to stand up and say No I'm not ready. But if you feel ready, fine, if you don't feel ready, then even if you go ahead it won't be valid. It won't be worth anything because it won't have meant anything to you. Unless it means something to you it's not really much point. Erm that's the negative side. The positive side is obviously if you go ahead with the Celebration of Election, smashing. What happens in the Celebration is of Election is that the erm it happens at the end of mass I think or round the end of mass. I think it's after Communion. The priest asks the catechists or one of the catechists to represent the four of us erm to decide whether we feel you're ready for Confirmation, which we all have no hesitation in saying yes to with all this particular group. Erm then he asks the candidates er Do you sincerely want to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation? and you stand when he calls out your name, hell call out you names, yeah? Kay did this bit on Sunday and I'm not too sure about it, yeah. The catechist will read out in the same way as we did for the Celebration of Enrolment, erm whichever catechist is doing will say I present to you and call out a name, and you stand up in your seat with your parents. Now are you are you erm on the altar on Sunday?
[Peter:] No I was going to stay down.
[Elizabeth:] Right. Well you just stand up in your row by your parents and you don't go don't come out onto the front or anything, just stand up when your name's called, and then he addresses you and says, [reading] Do you sincerely want to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation? [] and you say, [reading] I do. Do you understand that through this sacrament God is calling you to become witnesses to Christ? I do. [] [LAUGHTER] Difficult aren't they. [reading] Do you want to follow Lord Jesus by living lives of loving service to God and to all God's people? [] and you say, [reading] I do. [] [LAUGHTER] And the he says, [reading] Let us bless the Lord. [] and you answer, [reading] Thanks be to God. [] Then he asks the community, because although they might not all have seemed to have been involved there's been a lot of people praying for you and
[Peter:] Mm.
[Elizabeth:] you are part of the community. And then he will address you again. But knowing Father er Chris and then apart from the We everybody says the answers there it's all thanks be to God and amen amen amen amen, I think we're actually gonna have some copies, I don't know,... ready for you. So that's next Sunday. Erm you've got your letter about the following Sunday didn't you?
[Peter:] Yeah.
[Elizabeth:] Right. Any queries questions or what have you about that?
[Peter:] Erm... do you kn how much erm contribut erm
[Elizabeth:] Well that's up to you and your parents.
[Peter:] Mm mm.
[Elizabeth:] That's really up to your parents. Erm... If it's if you want some kind of a guideline I think last year... I can't remember but I think we I think last year we actually had to ask because the parish couldn't support it totally. Erm this year the parish has said they'll pay for it and any contributions will be [LAUGHTER] gratefully received [] and I think it was three pound last year. But I can't remember.
[Peter:] Mm.
[Elizabeth:] So that just gives you some idea and it's up to your parents if they want to. But don't feel pressured to contribute you know cos it's something... Right er... don't think there's anything else. You've got the letter, you've got all that. Right so next Sunday is the ten thirty mass for everybody....
[Peter:] Yeah.
[Elizabeth:] Okay?
[Peter:] Okay.
[Elizabeth:] Right can we just we'll finish off with a prayer.... Do you want to say the prayer of Saint Francis?
[Peter:] Okay.
[Elizabeth:] When we get round to it. I'll tell you when.
[Peter:] [LAUGHTER]
[Elizabeth:] [LAUGHTER] [tape ends]