Last weekend, our hardworking Faith Formation team, family volunteers, the amazing sisters of Pro Ecclesia Sancta, Fr. Reji and myself had the great pleasure of serving the Confirmation retreat for over sixty of our teenagers who will be confirmed this June. When asked why they wanted to receive this Sacrament, a consistent theme emerged from the kids: “I want to get closer to God.” That’s the perfect answer! In that seemingly simple response, lies the throbbing, passionate heart of Catholic spirituality. I dare say, it’s the answer that unlocks the mystery of what it means to be a human being. The desire to get “closer” to God points all the way back to the beginning of creation itself. As God constructs the universe, the stars, the earth, the land, the oceans, the sky, animals and finally you and I, the Bible tells us that each human being is made in God’s “image and likeness” (Cf. Genesis 1:27). In other words, we are made for communion; we’re made for relationships. Never forget this deepest reality of our identity. Love is the reason why we exist. God himself is love, as Jesus Christ reveals. He is a Holy Trinity of eternal relationship of Father loving the Son, the Son loving the Father, and this love between them is the Holy Spirit  (Cf. 1 John 4:7). 

Stamped within each of us is the mystery of this Trinitarian love. We’re designed to be “closer to God.” Our hearts will always remain restless if we fail to live according to this reality. At the retreat, I wanted to bring this point to the kids. I asked them a basic question: “If you want to achieve happiness, what are we, as the adults in your life, telling you? What messages are you hearing through social media, movies, music, school etc.?” As the kids raised their hands I would write the answers on a whiteboard. The responses were fairly typical: “Get good grades!”. “Big house.” “Good job”. One of the boys yelled, “Get a girlfriend!” They started to giggle. After I wrote their answers on the board, I took a step back looking at all they said. Then I asked them, “Are we missing anything else?” They nodded their heads no. “Now”, I said, pausing briefly for dramatic effect. “Raise your hands if you hear from all the different messages you get on a daily basis from the culture, that you need God to be happy?” No one raised their hands. It was complete silence. 

Compare that to the words of Jesus in the Gospel this Sunday. Our savior tells us: “Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep… I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.” (Cf. John 10:9-10). Jesus is resolute here; he leaves no wiggle room. He holds himself as the absolute path to the “pasture”. If we are searching for the answers to life's most daunting questions, what is the purpose of existence? What is my deepest identity? What must I do to find happiness? Jesus tells us he is the most perfect answer.