Helpful Guidelines for writing Palanca Letter 

• One letter from each parent/sponsor
• Each letter should be brief – no longer than one typed sheet of paper.
• Pray before writing the Palanca and allow the Holy Spirit to guide your words.
• Think about what kind of Palanca (prayer, sacrifice or work of mercy) you want to offer to your child during the remainder of this preparation process and, in particular, on the retreat day such as letting them know that you will be praying for them every time you have to stop at a red light, or something like that. They should know it. (And you should be sure to honor your commitment).
• Positively affirm your child’s faith journey and affirm your role as a supporter of their life long faith journey.
• Reassure your child that you and God will meet him /her right where he/she is in their faith journey.
• Encourage your child to continue learning about their faith.
• Tell your child that you are praying for them

Dear John,

It has been a wonderful thing for me to see you preparing for all your sacraments through the years. After your Baptism, we saw you receive First Holy Communion and Reconciliation. Pretty soon you will be blessed with the Holy Sacrament of Confirmation. We are so proud of you!

You have been building a foundation to receive the oil of the Holy Spirit. In doing so, you are being filled with Her seven gifts: wisdom (expressed in his parables and stories), understanding (of the poor and sick), right judgment (when tested by the Pharisees), courage (when journeying to Jerusalem to await His fate), knowledge (of God’s will), reverence (for His heavenly Father), and awe (for the wonders of creation).

With these seven gifts, you will find the strength and courage to help you feel confident in your faith. It will be hard at times and there may even be times when you question many parts of your faith and are troubled. But rest assured, if you go back to the core and to your prayer - you will get through the hardest of times.  I am excited to see how you are going to use these gifts to make this world a better place and also to watch you grow closer to God.

My promise to you is that I will continually pray that you will find your way in life and recognize God always with you. Then you can be at peace with who you are and you will be the best you can be. You will shine my child.

You have so much to give my child and so much to look forward to in life. Go forth and reach for the stars, with God by your side.

Much love, Dad

Dear John,

Let me start off by saying how extremely proud I am to call you my brother. Through all the tough times in the past year you’ve kept it together and been there for everyone. So I’m going to try my best, not to get “mushy gushy” on you. But I can’t make any promises.

First off, High School! Next year is going to be a huge change for you, especially since you’ve spent more than half your life at your current school. But I have no doubt that you will love high school and I know that if you work hard you’ll get everything out of it that you possibly can, and still manage to have a social life.

I know we’re 3 years apart, but this year and especially next year, those three years are going to seem like much smaller of a gap. And while you will always be my baby brother, the maturity level you are at I hope will bring us closer together.

So now’s the part when I tell you about how much fun Confirmation is and how great of an experience it is. But when I say it, I’m being serious. None of the “this is what I’m supposed to say so I guess I’ll say it” stuff. My Confirmation retreat was one of the best times I had in eighth grade. I still keep in touch with the friends I made that day (and through the whole process), both girls and boys. Some of the guys you’ve met may end up in your class at Prep, some of the girls you may end up talking to for years or some you may just happen to come across later on in high school. But no matter how, the friendships you make and experiences you have will affect the next four years of your life.

Personally, it took a little while after Confirmation to actually even notice a difference, and I can’t say the changes I notice now are necessarily significant, or that they were actually an effect of Confirmation itself. But I can tell that I am in the process of growing. Part of that will come with the Catholic (Jesuit) education you’ll receive over the next four years; another part will simply come from maturing. The greatest things I got out of my Confirmation were the experiences and the friendships that allowed me to grow as a person. Confirmation is not necessarily about feeling an immediate change in your religious life, but rather is about allowing yourself to grow in your faith (cliché right? Sorry, but it’s true). So my wish for you as you are entering the last stage of this process is that you move forward with an open mind and allow yourself to experience the next four years (and the rest of your life) with a better idea of who you want to be.

I hope you know that no matter what I will always be here for you. No matter how big of a mistake you make, I will forever be here to help you make things right. So I hope that you have an excellent day at retreat and I hope you make the most of these experiences that you can’t really get anywhere else.

Love Always, Your sister