The Sacrament of Confirmation

In our last episode, we talked about Baptism. Now, we move to the sacrament of Confirmation. In the Churches understanding of the sacrament of initiations, there are three sacraments Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist. So at the Easter Vigil, when an adult is brought into the Church, they receive Baptism in the liturgy.

They also are confirmed at the liturgy. They also receive their first Eucharist at their liturgy. In the case of children, there's very often a division of many years a child might be baptized, it several weeks old, or several months old or a year old. They may not be confirmed until they're 15, 16, 17 years old.

The Church teaching has the sacrament of Confirmation can be conferred from the age of reason, which is about seven. Up through adulthood. So the timing is really when one is prepared for what confirmation means. One of the challenges in the Church sometimes is children, young adults, families sometimes see the sacrament of Confirmation as sort of a graduation ceremony because it comes so close to high school graduation for so many.

It’s not a graduation. It’s a deeper immersion. It’s a strengthening. When I was confirmed as a young child many years ago, we used to talk about being made soldiers of Christ. We took on a new level of importance as the pathway of discipleship. We don’t speak about Soldier of Christ, so much anymore. It's a two militaristic.

Rather, it's a deepening of our discipleship and our call to witness Christ in the world. It takes us from being children to being adults, as it were, in a formal way within the Church, of being able to participate and share the gospel, to share and witness Christ in a new and profound way by the strengthening of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

There’s the core of the sacrament of Confirmation, the strengthening of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. When we think about Confirmation, the sign is the anointing, with sacred chrism done by a bishop or is sometimes designated by a priest very often at the Easter Vigil, the priest is confirming their role of having that power designated to them by the bishop. The words are the prayer of consecration that the bishop prays before laying on hands; the laying on of hands and the anointing are the signs of this great sacrament.

The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. Wisdom. Understanding. Counsel. Fortitude. Knowledge. Piety. Fear of the Lord. By fear of the Lord, we really mean awe. Those gifts, the effect of the sacrament, are to strengthen those so that we are able to, again, live a more mature Christian life. To receive those gifts is one thing. To embrace them is another. To live with them is still yet another. How long does that take? It's a lifetime of practice. We’re better on some days than we are on others. But the power and the promise of the sacrament of Confirmation is we are always being given the grace to be stronger in the witness of our Faith.

The way we witness our Faith. In Galatians, we’re told what the signs of the fruits of the Holy Spirit are, that is, the gifts are present in us, and the gifts of their use produce fruit.

And so the fruit love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, self-control, faithfulness, modesty, chastity.

When you see a Christian who exudes joy, not giddy happiness, but they’ve got a deep sense of faithfulness and joy. When you see kindness in a Christian, when you see generosity, when you see peace, when you see patience. Those are all signs that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are indeed bearing fruit in that life.

That’s something each of us should long for. Sisters and brothers, just to repeat again, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, self-control, faithfulness, modesty, and chastity in all of those, each of us in our own way, if we may bear those fruits, sisters and brothers, they are signs that the Holy Spirit to the sacrament of Confirmation is indeed calling us to be renewed.

1. How does the sacrament of confirmation inspire you to embrace a deeper level of discipleship in your life?

2. In what ways do you experience the gifts of the Holy Spirit guiding your daily actions and decisions?

3. How can you actively cultivate the fruits of the Holy Spirit—such as love, joy, and peace—in your community?