Author: cnorman
Last saved by: Ryan Ross

Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
TREASURES FROM OUR TRADITION
	Every rectory office has received a panicked phone call from a person who has been invited to serve as a godparent, or from someone newly engaged, who suddenly “needs to get confirmed.” While the lack of confirmation is not an obstacle for marriage, it is for godparenting. Many are surprised that the Church seems to be looking for a kind of sacramental “seal” on one’s baptism before the door opens fully to this ministry. Yet if you think about it, would you want someone to guide you to a place that he or she had not yet been? A godparent has to be someone who has “been there” and knows the way.
	Although signet rings and wax seals have passed from use, our society depends on “seals of approval” ranging from certificates of quality to the familiar safety seals on medicines and foods. While Eucharist is the “seal” of the sacrament of baptism, there is a sense in which one’s Christian initiation is also incomplete without confirmation. Have you been confirmed? Perhaps it’s time to inquire now, before you have to make that dreaded phone call!
—Rev. James Field