Sacrament of Confirmation

I don't remember much about my experience of the sacrament of confirmation. After all, I was only ten. I knew confirmation had something to do with the Holy Spirit, and that the slap on the face that the bishop gave us during the ceremony was a reminder that we now were obliged to fight for Christ. But I found this rather puzzling because most of the confirmed Catholics I knew seemed anything but militant. To be honest, they were more like spiritual couch potatoes than warriors, sitting by the sidelines as American culture became increasingly hostile to Christian faith and morals.

When my faith was renewed in my teen years, I decided to search the scriptures; who is the Holy Spirit and why, after receiving him in baptism, do we need to receive him again in the sacrament of confirmation?

Pentecost and its relation to the Sacrament of Confirmation

After getting off to a very exciting start, Jesus' life for the next 30 or so years appears to have been rather ordinary. But immediately after his baptism in the Jordan and the visible descent of the Spirit upon him, his life radically changes. This carpenter who had till then lived a quiet life with his mother is now led out by the Spirit into the desert. For forty days he battles Satan through prayer and fasting. Then he comes back, enters the synagogue of Nazareth, throws the townspeople into an uproar, and begins working miracles, teaching the crowds, healing the sick, and driving out demons. For three years the kingdom of God is evident in his dynamic ministry.

The same thing later happened to his disciples. Though they had followed Jesus for three years, witnessed his miracles and even seen his risen body, they were still very reserved about their faith. Fifty days after the Easter, they were even praying behind closed doors for fear of the authorities! The Pentecostal fire that fell upon them that day (Acts 2) was the same anointing that Jesus had received in the Jordan. And it empowered the disciples to work the same miracles as were worked by Christ.

Some Christians who were not in the upper room on the day of Pentecost received a similar outpouring of the Spirit. For example, some Samaritan Christians "received the Holy Spirit" (Acts 8:17) after Peter and John came and laid their hands on them. And Paul found some Christians in Ephesus who had not even heard of the Holy Spirit. He baptized them in the name of Jesus; then he laid hands on them, and the Spirit came in a dramatic way (see Acts 19:1-7).

What the New Testament shows, then, is that, following baptism, the Holy Spirit comes to a new Christian in a very special way in response to an apostle's prayer and laying on of hands. That's really what confirmation is all about: the coming of the Spirit through the intercession of the bishop, a successor of the apostles.

Confirmation: A Threefold Anointing

The name "Christ" means "anointed one"; it points to Jesus' empowerment by the Spirit to liberate, serve, and save. When Jesus calls us to follow him, he doesn't mean for us to make our way to heaven alone we're called to bring others with us. We can only do this through a special share in his anointing. This is why, early on, Jesus "followers came to be known as Christians, "anointed ones."

We're so used to this name that it doesn't strike us as especially meaningful. But for awhile in the early church, Jesus' followers were also called "Nazarenes" and "followers of The Way." They were called Christians for the first time in Antioch (Acts 11:26), the city from which Paul was sent out on the journeys that brought the gospel to the whole Greco-Roman world. It's no coincidence that the name "Christian" arose in a place so connected with missionary activity! It highlights the fact that to be a follower of Jesus means to share in his mission. This is a privilege that is not an option. It's a mandate and responsibility of everyone who goes by the name Christian, "anointed one."

Anointing is a practice with very ancient roots. In the Old Testament, it was done with a special olive oil that we call chrism. As an Italian, I get excited about olive oil. But chrism wasn't just any old olive oil; it was oil perfumed with precious spices (Ex 30:22-33). Chrism was so special that only priests, prophets, and kings were anointed with it.

The chrism used in the sacrament of confirmation is a sacred oil blessed by the bishop. It recalls Jesus anointing "with the Holy Spirit and with power" just after his baptism (Acts 10:38); his three-fold anointing as priest, king, and prophet. Through confirmation we become sharers in Jesus' priesthood, prophetic ministry, and kingly dignity.

Confirmation Makes Us A Priestly People

Our anointing in confirmation calls us to share in Christ's priestly duty. (It also indicates that the Catholic Church has always believed in the priesthood of all believers.)

But what's a priestly duty, anyway? In the Old Testament, priests offered sacrifice and interceded for the people. Christ did this too, though not by presenting animal sacrifices. Rather, he offered himself as a living sacrifice a bloody, once-and-for-all sacrifice on the altar of the cross.

Likewise, our anointing as members of a priestly people (see 1 Pt 2:5, 9) means that we are to offer ourselves to God. As Romans 12:2 puts it: "Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." This total self-offering is our vocation and privileged mission. All that we are and do must be offered to the Father as a pleasing sacrifice with Christ for the salvation of the world.

Before I begin the day's work, I present it as a living sacrifice and ask the Lord to make it pleasing to him. This morning offering, which is part of the Catholic tradition, is an exercise of the priesthood conferred on us in baptism and confirmation. It helps us to realize our particular call as lay people, which is to get into the nitty-gritty of human life family, work, and everything else secular so that it can be redeemed and sanctified. As God's priestly people make this offering day after day, all things are elevated and supernaturalized, transformed by the magnificent grace of Christ.

Another reason Christ is called high priest is because he intercedes. Even now, says the letter to the Hebrews, "he always lives to make intercession" for us (Heb 7:25). Through confirmation, we too are called to be intercessors, people who are in constant prayer not only for those we know and love but for the entire world. That's what the "Prayer of the Faithful" in the Mass is all about. There we remember the bigger picture. We pray for persecuted Christians, for church and government leaders, for the poor and the sick. Of course our intercession is not to be limited to Mass; we're called to "pray constantly" (1 Thes 5:16) for the needs of all.

Confirmation Makes Us An Army of Foot-washers

The Sacrament of Confirmation gives us a share in the Lord's kingly anointing. We have to remember, though, that.

Jesus was a king who processed into Jerusalem on a donkey and whose only crown was made of thorns. While he manifested his power by binding the "strong man," Satan, Jesus demonstrated his dignity through his awesome humility. The night before he died, Jesus gave the most dramatic demonstration of this by kneeling to wash his disciples' feet (see Jn 13). In first-century Palestine, this was the most despicable job imaginable. Not even Israelite slaves could be commanded to perform it, but only foreign prisoners of war. By choosing this lowliest of tasks, Jesus showed us what his kind of kingship calls us to do for others.

The need for foot-washing isn't what it was in the days when people wore sandals and walked on dusty roads. In our society, the equivalent of this despised job might be changing a messy diaper; a task I'm very familiar with! But it isn't just parents who get to be modern-day foot-washers. Many people are called to the noble work of caring for the bodily needs of children, the elderly, the sick.

In one way or another, every follower of Christ is called to humble service. Strengthened by the kingly anointing received in confirmation, everyone can embrace that call.

So many of us want to get out there and DO something once we experience our baptism and confirmation getting activated. I know I did when I first got excited about following Jesus at age sixteen. I wanted to LEAD, to PREACH. Instead, my first job was to set up chairs in the church hall.

That was a great start. It helped me understand that sharing in the kingly mission of the Lord means joining an army of foot-washers. While our society teaches us to race to the top, in Chris'=s kingdom the race is to the bottom.

Sacrament of Confirmation,

Sacrament of Champions - Part II

Dr. Marcellino D'Ambrosio

Jesus� anointing marked Him out as a prophet greater than all the rest, including Elijah, Elisha, and Moses. Through His miracles, conversations, and entire being, Jesus was God�s spokesman. This is a prophet�s main job description. In fact, it�s the literal meaning of the Greek word for prophet: one who speaks on behalf of another.

Speak up for God

Being a prophet has nothing necessarily to do with foretelling the future. To share in Jesus� prophetic anointing, then, means being called to speak for the living God in our deeds and words � that is, to proclaim the gospel to all people.

When I was growing up, I thought only bishops and missionaries were called to evangelize. Looking around, I saw no need for spreading the gospel in this �one nation under God.�

Certainly, the work of foreign missions is an urgent necessity for the whole Church. Ever since the Second Vatican Council, however, the Church has been pointing to the emergence of a new evangelization, a work which every one of its members is called to embrace.

What�s �new� about this evangelization? First of all, the mission field: our formerly Christian society must be re-evangelized. A recent Gallup poll showed that the overwhelming majority of American church-goers live in a way that is indistinguishable from everyone else in America. Also, many people in our society are unchurched; they have no religious identity whatsoever and are hungering for meaning in their lives. Who is going to speak for God to all these people? No way that missionaries, bishops, and religious alone can do the job. It�s too big.

That�s another reason this evangelization is called new: it needs to be carried out by new evangelizers. By people who may never have thought of themselves as missionaries.

Fortunately, confirmation equips everybody to proclaim the gospel. It �gives us a special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and action as true witnesses of Christ� (Catechism, para. 1303). In fact, a Vatican II document pointed out that Catholics who have been confirmed are �more strictly obliged to spread the faith by word and deed� (Lumen gentium, para. 11).

I�ve heard a lot of homilies that advise, �Don�t worry about talking about your faith. Just be a good example.� But this is not the teaching of the Church! Certainly, it�s disgraceful to speak God�s word without bearing witness to it by our actions. But a silent witness through example only is bad evangelizing too. If you never explain why your life is different � why you have a smile on your face and peace in your heart � people are likely to draw the wrong conclusions. Instead of seeing God in your life, they may think you are just especially well-adjusted.

Of course, to explain the faith successfully, we need to study it. Studying, understanding, and then speaking out boldly for God � this is part of what it means to share in Christ�s prophetic anointing. The Church is essentially missionary, so unless we accept the call to mission, we�re not fully Catholic.

An Apostolic Commission

If baptism is like getting your foot in the church door, confirmation is like coming into the living room. There we are personally welcomed by the host of the house, the bishop, who is a successor of the Apostles and the visible center of the local church. He is the original minister of confirmation who signs and seals those receiving the sacrament.

The connection with the Apostles is also evoked when confirmation is conferred by a priest, since the sacred chrism he uses must be blessed by the bishop. Whether present in person or through the use of this blessed oil, the bishop is our living link with those to whom Jesus first entrusted the great commission to �go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation� (Mk 16:15). In confirmation He conveys that commission to others.

Fortunately, the Lord never imposes obligations without equipping us to carry them out. As we�re anointed, we�re empowered to serve as apostles, evangelists, intercessors, servants. Because God�s word never returns to Him empty, things happen through the sacramental signs and words of confirmation. The Holy Spirit, a Spirit of power, is always given to us. We can count on it.

The prophet Isaiah describes the Spirit and His power in terms of seven gifts that rest upon the Messiah: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord (see Is 11:2). Poured out on Jesus as the anointed king, this seven-fold Spirit is likewise poured out on us in confirmation.

Each of these gifts is fabulous and would warrant a book in itself. But in an age when there is such ignorance of the faith and such fearful passivity on the part of so many of the faithful and the clergy, here are reflections on just two of them.

� Fortitude: This supernatural courage characterizes the Apostles once the Spirit comes at Pentecost. What a transformation! Fearful no more, they burst out into the same streets through which Jesus was dragged to Calvary, proclaiming publicly that Jesus is risen from the dead. Their bold witnessing has a powerful effect: �about three thousand souls� are baptized and added to the Church that day (Acts 2:41).

Stories like this comfort me. Even though I�m not courageous by nature, I know that the Holy Spirit can give me supernatural courage when I need it. All I have to do is yield to this gift of holy boldness.

� Understanding: Through the power of the Spirit, we�re equipped to understand biblical truths with our heart, not just our rational mind. The Holy Spirit helps us to penetrate their meaning in a supernatural way. This is how St. Thomas Aquinas explains the spiritual gift of understanding.

This certainly rings true to my own experience. Following my personal Pentecost, I developed a hunger for the Bible. Things I had found boring and meaningless suddenly came to life; they nourished and excited me. If this has happened to you too, know that this is the gift of understanding. If this gift hasn�t been activated in you yet, ask the Holy Spirit�s help. The gift is already yours through confirmation.

�Accept the Charisms with Gratitude!�

The Holy Spirit also brings us gifts called �charisms.� While the �seven gifts of the Spirit� build us up and enable us to grow in sanctity, charisms enable us to build up the Church and serve others. Charisms are supernatural gifts of grace, but sometimes they build on humble, natural foundations. That�s the way God usually works: grace builds on nature; it perfects and elevates it.

Having always believed in and encouraged charisms, the Catholic church is officially the largest Pentecostal church in the world! The Catechism calls the charisms a �wonderfully rich grace for the apostolic vitality and for the holiness of the entire Body of Christ� (see Catechism, paras. 799-801). The Second Vatican Council, in its �Dogmatic Constitution on the Church,� teaches that the Holy Spirit �distributes special graces among the faithful of every rank.... These charismatic gifts, whether they be the most outstanding or the more simple and widely diffused, are to be received with thanksgiving and consolation, for they are exceedingly suitable and useful for the needs of the Church� (Lumen gentium, par. 12).

More dramatically, on Pentecost 1998, John Paul II said: �Today to all of you, and to all Christians, I want to cry out: Be open and docile to the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Accept with gratitude and obedience the charisms that the Spirit never ceases to bestow. Come, Holy Spirit, and make the charisms you have bestowed ever more fruitful.�

What charisms does the Spirit bring? I can�t enumerate them, because charisms are so varied and specific to particular needs that they can�t be compiled into an exhaustive list. One famous listing in 1 Corinthians 12 mentions charisms like teaching: supernatural instruction that gives inspiration as well as information. There�s the mountain-moving faith that Jesus talks about in the Gospels. There�s supernatural healing and miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits, tongues and interpretation of tongues.

But 1 Corinthians 12 also speaks of humbler charisms. Administration, for example. Doesn�t this sound like a gift for an accountant? Well, the charism of administration is broader than the ability to manage finances or business affairs. It refers to the Spirit-inspired ability to oversee a project, mission, or other service to God�s people in a way that builds up the Church, glorifies God, and doesn�t bog down in bureaucracy.

Other humble charisms are mentioned in Romans 12. The ministry of service sounds unexciting � but remember, this is what Christ demonstrates in the foot-washing episode of John 13. Housework for an elderly person, planning a Holy Week liturgy, working on a parish hospitality team � all these ordinary services are supernatural, if done with the joy and love of the Spirit. Romans 12 also mentions the charism of exhortation, the ability to motivate others to greater love and service of Christ. Calling people on without cajoling and brow-beating, in a way that inspires, uplifts, and encourages is a supernatural gift. Doing works of mercy is a charism (see Rom 12:8). Some so-called charitable works demean people, keep them dependent, and take away their dignity. What a contrast with the way Mother Teresa and her sisters would perform these works! One with those they serve, they enhance and elevate the dignity of the poorest of the poor and make them feel like the princes and princesses they really are in God�s eyes.

Another mention of charisms appears in 1 Corinthians 7:7, where Paul calls Christian marriage itself a charism. Marriage is a natural institution which offers many natural goods, such as companionship and children. A Christian marriage, though, is supernatural. Building on a natural foundation, it turns a marriage heavenward and bases it on the rock that is Christ. Christian marriage also reveals the love and unbreakable bond between Christ and His Church.

Celibacy, too, is a charism of the Spirit, says St. Paul in the very same verse. He�s not talking about people who stay single to have a fun-filled life without the burden of caring for children. Charismatic celibacy means being single in imitation of Christ, for the sake of greater freedom to serve a bigger family. It�s a gift of love to the Lord and to the whole church.

Unwrapping Our Charismatic Gifts

Three points about the charisms. First, it�s important to remember that they�re gifts for the good of the Church. We can�t just pick out the ones we want and use them as we please. Our charisms need to be discerned and coordinated. Bishops, priests, and deacons have a special charism, received through ordination, for this discernment, and we should all work together with them to build up the whole Church (see Catechism, par. 801).

Second, keep in mind that the humble charisms are just as important as the flashier ones. I have to admit that I�d love to be able to raise the dead and work miracles! But this doesn�t seem to be how God normally works through me. Right from the beginning, God called me to serve Him in more ordinary ways � like offering my music as a gift for use in prayer and the liturgy. I saw my natural gift gradually transformed into a supernatural one that enables people to lift their hearts and minds to God. If we�re faithful in little things like this, the Lord will often give us greater.

Finally, St. Paul gives us the most important directive of all about the Spirit�s gifts when he teaches the preeminence of love. If I have spectacular gifts of tongues, prophecy, or healing but �have not love, I am nothing,� he says (1 Cor 13:3). Every charism in the Christian life is intended to build and serve charity or agape. This is the totally self-giving kind of love that God has for us and invites us to return to Him and others. Without charity, everything is in vain (see Catechism, para. 800).

A Word to the Confirmed and the Not-Yet Confirmed

If you�re awaiting confirmation or preparing others for this sacrament, I encourage you to realize that the experience of the Holy Spirit � His joy, gifts, and charisms � should be seen as normal for adults who are being confirmed. It destroys faith to entertain thoughts like, �Gee, this might not happen. Better not get my hopes up.� The Holy Spirit does come in power, and we need to be prepared for that � disposed and ready to respond.

Interestingly, in the early Church receiving the Spirit seemed to be a perceptible experience; it made a difference that was noticeable to everyone. Otherwise, how could Paul have told the Galatians: �Have you had such remarkable experiences all to no purpose...? Is it because you observe the law or because you have faith in what you heard that God lavishes the Spirit on you and works wonders in your midst?� (Gal 3:4-5, NAB).

This palpable coming of the Spirit was also reported by Church Fathers writing over an eight-hundred-year period in both the East and the West. As shown in a 1991 study by two accomplished theologians, biblical scholar George Montague and patristics scholar Kilian McDonnell, the Fathers indicated that adults who were baptized and confirmed experienced a difference in their lives. In the words of St. Hilary of Poitiers, �We who have been reborn through the sacrament of baptism experience intense joy when we feel within us the first stirrings of the Holy Spirit.� Speaking of the charisms right afterwards, he adds, �Let us make use of such generous gifts� (See Fanning the Flame, Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 1991, 16).

�But I�ve already been confirmed,� some people say, �and I didn�t feel anything happening.�

This is certain: the grace and power of the Spirit really were communicated to you in confirmation. But the gifts need to be unpacked. It�s like getting a new credit card that can�t be used until you call in and activate it. St. Paul uses another image to make the same point when he tells Timothy to �stir into flame the gift of God bestowed when my hands were laid on you� (2 Tm 1:6, NAB).

There are sparks deep within everyone who has been confirmed. Some of us have already felt them leaping up into the fire of the Holy Spirit. Others need to pray that the sparks will burst into flame and that the gifts of the Spirit will be activated and become fruitful for the life of the Church.

�What have I done with my baptism? How do I answer my vocation? What have I done with my confirmation? Have I used the gifts and charisms of the Spirit to bear fruit?� These are the fundamental questions that Pope John Paul II suggests we ask ourselves in light of this new millennium. For each of us, may these questions serve as both an examination of conscience and a spur to action. Let�s ask for the strength of the Spirit to respond to God�s call and live out the grace of confirmation.

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