One of the most important (and frequent) tasks of a bishop is to administer the sacrament of confirmation. The “confirmation season” is particularly heavy during the second semester of the school year.

At this time of year it seems like I am confirming almost every evening. Our retired Bishop Thomas Doran still blesses the diocese by taking a number of the ceremonies as well.

It is the practice of the Church that those who are to be confirmed choose a saint for their confirmation.

Then, when they come forward to be anointed with the sacred chrism, the moment that the Holy Spirit is conferred on them, they are accompanied by their earthly sponsor as well as by one of the saints in heaven. We truly are a Church, a family of faith, that extends through time and history, even to heaven itself!

I am constantly fascinated by the choice of the saints by our young people. There are some that appear very frequently. St. Sebastian, for example, is often chosen because he is the patron saint of athletes.

Given the importance of athletics in the lives of many of our young people, especially in high school, many find that they have something in common with him.

Likewise, almost every confirmation has at least one who has chosen St. Cecilia. She is the patron saint of musicians. Again, our young people who sing or play an instrument, often in a school group, see in St. Cecilia someone who shares an important part of their life.

Of course there are other saints who make frequent appearances. Among our Hispanic young people, Our Lady of Guadalupe and Saint Juan Diego are often chosen. And Mary, St. Peter and even Pope Saint John Paul II are also regulars.

At times, I learn something as well. On one occasion, a young lady said that she had chosen a saint that, I must confess, I was not familiar with. I asked her why she had chosen him, and she said that he was the patron saint of those suffering from a rare disease that I did not recognize either. When I asked why that was important to her, she said that her father suffered from the disease. That conversation was brief but very moving.

The choices of those saints and the conversations about them seem to suggest two thoughts.

First, our young people often choose saints with whom they sense that they have something in common now. That means that they can see themselves now in those saints. Whether it be in athletics or in sacrifice for the poor, they recognize a good in the saint that they want to see in themselves.

At the same time, by selecting those saints, our young people are often choosing a goal of how they want themselves to be in the future. They recognize that a martyr like Maximillian Kolbe or Joan of Arc was not made in a day. They seem to see a distance between where they are now and what God may call them to. And those saints, who have already walked the walk, are asked to help them. That’s a sign of hope, of optimism.

Even for those of us outside of this year’s confirmation class, the saints are a hugely important element of our faith. That “cloud of witnesses” is always watching over us.

But do we let them into our lives? Do we ask for their prayers? Do we read their stories and try to see how God worked in their lives as He will in ours?

When we name our newborn children, we should choose the name of a saint for them, to be their lifelong companion. Many of our home parishes are named for saints. That too can give us a lifelong connection to one who already stands before God.

The stories of saints are not just tales for the young. As we get older, ever closer to our meeting with Christ, they help us to prepare and give us much to think about. It is a part of faith to believe that we will meet the saints face to face one day if we live as we ought.

To which saints do you pray?