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You're not just saying yes to the ceremony. When you say, "I want to be confirmed," what are you saying yes to? Think about it. It's not just to a ceremony that will be over in a very short time. When you say, "I want to be confirmed" -- and all of us should think about this because we've been confirmed -- you're saying yes to Jesus. You're saying, "Yes, I want to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. I want to follow Jesus and live according to His ways."

While He was doing that, He experienced the outpouring of God's Holy Spirit upon Him. Jesus experienced that coming of the Holy Spirit that is going to happen in our sacrament today. The Spirit came upon Jesus and in the midst of that experience, Jesus heard God speaking to Him, "You are my Son, my beloved one. In You I am well pleased." That is what is happening to you today. God is sending His spirit upon you. If you listen deeply, you, too, will hear God saying, "You are my beloved, my chosen one, and in you I am well pleased."

The Reign of God is ready to break forth in our world. That means that if we really enter into the Reign of God, and it is at hand -- all we have to do is enter into it -- the Reign of God, which means that we respond to God's love in the world. Sometimes we use the phrase, "Kingdom of Heaven," and we think of a place. That isn't it. The Reign of God, the Kingdom of God is our relationship with God, our interacting with God, letting God's love be the way that guides our lives. We've become a people around the persons embracing the love of God made present for us in Jesus. Every one of us can enter into that Reign of God, which is what will give us fullness of life, peace within our hearts deep within us, joy and life forever. That's the Reign of God, but here is the really important thing, the thing we have to pay careful attention to: "Change your lives." You see, you enter the Reign of God when you begin to live according to the way of Jesus. How do we know about the way of Jesus? Well, we listen to the Scriptures. Every Sunday, we listen to the Gospel, where we hear Jesus speaking to us.