Confirmation

(Plain Text Version)

Confirmation is the sacrament which strengthens the grace of Baptism and equips the Christian to spread the message of salvation.

A Decisive Step in Christian Initiation

In Baptism, our separation from God ends and we become His adopted children.  In Confirmation, we are more perfectly bound to the Church and are enriched by a special strength of the Holy Spirit (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1285).

At Confirmation, we begin a deep relationship with the Holy Spirit.  God does not want us to go through life on our own strength, but to use the power which He gives us.  Confirmation helps us to live a vigorous Christian life and enables us to lead others into the Church.

What Confirmation Does for Us

Like Baptism, Confirmation makes a deep, permanent change in our soul.  We are a different kind of person after we are confirmed.  We receive power to overcome our three life-long enemies: the evil influences of those around us, our selfish tendency to disobey God, and the work of the devil.  In addition, we are made into soldiers for Christ, who will carry out His mission in the world.

Confirmation gives us the special graces we need to bring God’s blessings to others:

1. To better understand Christ, to see Him more clearly, and to believe in Him more firmly.  With this conviction, we can spread the Faith to others regardless of the cost,

2. To become eager to pass on to others what we have received,

3. For our minds to be enlightened and our wills to be strengthened so that we can effectively defend the faith.

Conformation Is Not the End of Our Study of the Faith

In preparing for Confirmation, it is essential to study the truths of our faith.  However, this study should intensify after Confirmation.  Getting to know God is a life-long process!   

The Ritual of Confirmation

We need the graces of Confirmation well before we reach the late teen years.  In the Eastern Catholic rites, an infant or child is Baptized, Confirmed, and receives the Holy Eucharist on the same day.  In the Latin rites, the age for Confirmation is determined by the bishop.

For Confirmation, chrism (a perfumed oil) is applied to the forehead by the bishop or priest with the words: “Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”  

Many thanks to:

Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J., Pocket Catholic Catechism, 1989, Doubleday

Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition, 1997, Libreria Editrice Vaticana

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