On Monday, May 25, 2015, I became that much closer to my ultimate life goal. I believe it is quite inevitable my fate. I know it, you know it; we all know it. 10 years from now, I see myself standing up there at the altar, presenting to all a glorious presentation of our faith. I see myself breaking the bread, blessing the wine, and giving a heart-filled homily to all the faith-filled listeners to laugh and marvel at even after mass is complete. I see myself in my room after-hours watching sports and debating on the latest religious controversies taking place worldwide with my fellow brothers. Yes my fellow readers, I see myself going down the road of priesthood somewhere in my future, and I am going to explain to you why such a decision has been made at my young age.
Just the past Monday, my classmates and I were finally, after a lot of preparation, Confirmed by our parish church St. Patrick Markham. It was a fairly simple event; very similar to a regular Mass. But as stated before, a whole lot of physical, mental, and spiritual preparation took place subsequent to us becoming adults in the church community.
We had Confirmation classes, went for a church retreat, had confession, record mandatory community hours (myself with over 90 hours so far), and we were encouraged to regularly attend Mass on Sundays to mature. Of all the tedious steps in getting Confirmed, I would say the confession a couple weeks prior was the hardest of the tasks. But after letting lose with all the heavy stuff weighing down your heart, your burdens, you feel relieved, anew. As our Youth Instructor Silvana told me, “What you felt was God’s love.”
Come Confirmation day, I got dressed up in my white dress shirt, suit, and tie, and headed over to the church arriving at about 6:00 pm, ready to take our Confirmation pictures in our red gowns. Before so, I was able to clearly see what all my friends and acquaintances look like in professional-looking clothing. I have to admit, they didn’t look too bad, but I of course was the stunner of the show.
After taking the picture in our gowns, our sponsors and the candidates lined up in two rows ready to head out for the Mass. My sponsor was my wonderful Uncle Don. Upon entering the church with all the on looking parents staring at our extraordinary gracefulness and poise, we sat down in our special reserved seats. The Mass then began.
Oh, did I mention that my sister Angela altar-served for us that Mass? She did a superb job at it too. Anyways, the Mass went as it normally does up until the homily part which was replaced by more of a friendly monologue the priest, Fr. Dominic, said to calm us down (not that we were nervous). We then proceeded to the Confirmation portion of the Mass where we walked to the priest, ready to be anointed. Uncle Don presented me saying, “Father, I present you Lakeisha” but he pronounced it like “Lakeeysha” which didn’t really please me all that much. He said something, I said “Amen.” He said “Peace be with you” and I said, “And with your spirit.” Some sort of blessed anointment or oil was placed on my forehead in the sign of the cross, confirming me forever. I sat down, congratulated my classmates, and went on with the Mass.
At the end, when the parents were jealously cheering for us, some lady decided to bring in a blue tambourine and make a whole lot of noise with her African “lelelelelele” thing. I guess we can all guess who that person was (*cough* mother *cough*). I was hugged by my family, congratulated, then I went to further congratulate my friends, photobombing pictures and hugging the ladies (of course, I am the magnet). I returned my robe, got my certificate, then headed home where we had a small celebratory dinner with Uncle Don’s family and my Auntie Lyn, a night filled with hearty conversations and great food (I ate a whole lot of BBQ and Samosas).
The night ended, I got small gifts from the visitors, and I prepared for sleep, the thought of finally being an adult in the church community still lingering in my excited mind. I feel so much more holy after that night and I never intend to stop being so. You never know: I might just be on my way to becoming one of our next Pope.
Angelous.