As fall sets in across the diocese, parish RCIA and religious education programs have begun. With them, many youths and adults are beginning their journey towards confirmation. But what are they preparing for? Like baptism, the great glory and necessity of this sacrament has been forgotten by many. 

 

Preparation for confirmation should provide a deeper understanding of the faith and the opportunity to personally lay claim to the faith. But what is most significant is what God does during the sacrament. 

 

God gives us a greater outpouring of His spirit. He confirms us as His children and unites us more firmly to Himself, each other and the salvific mission of the Church (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1303). As Jesus says, “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit…” (Jn 15:16).

 

During the sacrament, the bishop anoints the confirmandi with oil. Throughout the Scriptures, significant figures like priests, kings, and prophets were anointed at the beginning of their ministry. Likewise, the anointing of confirmation consecrates us to God and His mission. Both the Greek word “Christ” and the Hebrew word “Messiah” mean “the anointed one.” In following, we who are called Christians are defined by our anointing to the Lord. Confirmation indelibly marks our soul as belonging to God. 

 

While anointing, the bishop lays his hands on the confirmandi saying, “Be sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit.” At our baptism, we were dipped into the Holy Spirit (Lk 3:16) and in confirmation, we are sealed in that same Spirit. Confirmation “is necessary for the completion of baptismal grace.” (CCC 1285) 

 

This is evident from the experience of the early Church. The book of Acts tells us, that after the people of Samaria had been baptized, the Church sent them Peter and John (the first bishops) who “prayed for them, that they might receive the holy Spirit, for it had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” Initiation into the Christian life “remains incomplete” without confirmation (CCC 1306). 

 

An onlooker named Simon recognized, “the Spirit was conferred by the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money…” attempting to buy the power to call down the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:14-19). This curious encounter affirms the validity of the sacrament.

 

Similarly, when St. Paul entered Ephesus, he found a faithful community which he baptized and confirmed. “When Paul laid his hands on them, the holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.” (Acts 8:14-19).

 

These biblical examples demonstrate the relationship between confirmation and baptism and show the necessity and effectiveness of confirmation. This is why the Church says, “Every baptized person not yet confirmed can and should receive the sacrament of confirmation. Since baptism, confirmation, and Eucharist form a unity, it follows that “the faithful are obliged to receive this sacrament at the appropriate time …’” (CCC 1306).

 

Like the early Church, we live in a time of skepticism and hostility towards Christianity. The Holy Spirit we receive at confirmation is the same spirit that ignited the life of the early Church at Pentecost. When the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles, they were empowered to miraculously proclaim Jesus, and 3,000 people converted in one day (Acts 2:1-41). 

 

We too have been missioned to be coworkers with God in the world. Let us lay claim to the Holy Spirit and the gifts we received in confirmation “to confess the name of Christ boldly, and never to be ashamed of the Cross.” (CCC 1303).