Confirmed

So here are Joyce, James, Mary and Stephen after this morning's Confirmation service. It was a super occasion, with lots of St Catherine's folk joining the congregations of Llantrisant parish and St David's Hopkinstown for the Deanery Confirmation. There were also five candidates from St David's, and Archbishop Barry welcomed all of them reminding them that they are known to God by name and are each special in his sight.

In his sermon, he spoke of how our Gospel is good news of a God who loves all people irrespective of age, gender, background or place in society. He also told of a sermon he had heard in Washington which related an old Cherokee legend of a person containing two wolves that fought each other - one representing the greed and selfishness present in every person, the other representing love and generosity and care and compassion. Which wolf wins? "The one you feed". "But Christianity goes a step further," continued the Archbishop, reminding us that our spiritual life was not simply left to us to get right, but that God gifts us with his wonderful Holy Spirit to bring us the strength we need when we are in danger of feeding the wrong wolf.

The parish of St David's provided a lovely lunch afterwards, and it was a real pleasure to join with other folk from our area in worship, and to celebrate Jesus together!

If any member of St Catherine's wants to know more about confirmation, or is keen to develop their own faith further, we hope to be starting a new Alpha course in the New Year, so watch out for news of this here on the News Blog and in the notice sheet.