The Sacrament of Confirmation

Confirmation in relation to the Eucharist

From the days of the early Christians the great sign of being joined together as the community of the Church was their communion in the celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice, the "Breaking of the Bread." Eucharistic communion, along with acceptance of the apostolic teaching and manner of life, was a sign of the communion of life for the early Christians (see Acts 2:42). This communion of believers was based on their having been baptized and confirmed by the apostles. Early Christians noted that "communio sanctorum" could mean both "the communion of saints" and the "communion of the holy things." It was recognized that communion in the holy things of Christ was the foundation of communion with each other in the Church. Holy Communion in the Eucharist expresses and fosters the Holy Communion which is the Church. It is in sharing in the sacrifice of Christ that we are saved.

The early Christians entered the communion of the Church through baptism and the laying on of hands. Baptism and Confirmation introduced Christians into the life of the community and prepared them to celebrate the Eucharistic sacrifice and to share in the One Bread and the One Cup. Receiving the Body of Christ in the Eucharist, they became fully members of His Body, the Church.

Living and celebrating the Eucharist is the summit of an authentic program of Christian initiation, of liturgical piety, and of the Call to Holiness. To live as a Christian means to put the gift of baptismal rebirth into effect, a gift which is strengthened in Confirmation and nourished through regular participation at Mass (see synod #16). Full participation in the Eucharist and the life of the Church therefore entails having been confirmed.

Why, then, are not all those who participate in the Eucharistic sacrifice and banquet confirmed members of the Church? This situation is at the root of the pastoral questions facing the Diocese of Tyler.

Confirmation in relation to Baptism

Like all Sacraments, Confirmation was instituted by Christ. In the early Church we hear that after Baptism the Apostles would impose their hands upon Christians for the reception of the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:14-17; Hebrews 6:2). Confirmation corresponds to this laying on of hands, which in time came to include an anointing with Sacred Chrism. In the first centuries, this usually meant that baptism and confirmation were celebrated in unison. From the earliest times, then, Confirmation has been closely connected to the Sacrament of Baptism and to a sense of apostolic mission. These connections have been maintained across the centuries despite diverse cultural and pastoral situations.

Our practice in the Western Church has preserved in a strong way the connection with the apostolic laying on of hands. As it became more difficult for the bishop to visit the many distant parishes of his diocese and personally to baptize all new Christians (many of whom were newborn infants), the celebration of Confirmation began to take place at some time after baptism when the bishop could be the celebrant. In this way, each person's baptismal process was completed by the father and the visible head of the particular Church. It must be clear that the ordinary minister of Confirmation is the bishop. The priest confirms only when given the faculty to do so by the bishop. The role of the bishop in the Western Church as the ordinary minister of the sacrament is important as a sign of the visible communion of the confirmed with the local and universal Church.

The majority of Eastern Rite Catholics (and most Eastern Orthodox) have preserved the close connection between Baptism and Confirmation, which they call Chrismation, by celebrating the two sacraments at the same time. Typically, the celebrant is a priest rather than a bishop. The apostolic aspects of the sacrament are maintained by the use of "Myron" (chrism oil) consecrated by the bishop and by the fact that the priest exercises the apostolic ministry because of his ordination at the hands of the bishop. The simultaneous celebration of these two sacraments, theologically and pastorally legitimate for Eastern Catholics, is not kept as such in the Latin Rite because of our unique history and canon law.

Confirmation in the life of Grace

The Sacrament of Confirmation completes the baptismal grace. That is, the Holy Spirit, first received in Baptism, now strengthens the Christian, binding him more perfectly to Christ and the Church so that, as a true witness of Christ, he might spread and defend the faith by word and deed (see CCC 1285). Thus it is not accurate to connect Confirmation to maturity in the psychological sense so that it would best given at an age of social maturity.The Sacrament of Confirmation strengthens the person to bear witness, rather than expresses the person's determination to bear witness, to his faith. This strengthening is something that can be fittingly given at any age. By the reception of Confirmation, the Christian is given the grace to take his place in the life and apostolic mission of the Church. That mission is, first of all, to go out to all the world and witness to the Gospel of Christ. This witness is carried out in word and deed, in sacrament and service, by the power and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, with the guidance of the Apostles and their successors. The premier expression of the Gospel, the great act of Witness, the prolongation and fulfillment of the apostolic mission, is the worship of God and the salvation of man effected in the Paschal Mystery celebrated in the Eucharist. For a Christian publicly to take his place in the Eucharistic assembly is the greatest participation in the apostolic mission of the Church that is imaginable. The greatness of the Martyrs is found here: in their daily lives they lived fully what they celebrated at Mass. The two Sacraments at the service of communion, Holy Orders and Matrimony, serve to build up the people of God in living out of this great Mystery in their Call to Holiness.

It is through the grace of Baptism and Confirmation that the Holy Spirit and the Church prepares a person for full communion in the Holy Eucharist. Reception of the Eucharist prior to receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation may create some confusion in the community or in the person. Anyone who professes the true faith and participates in the sacrifice of Christ, receiving the Body and Blood of Christ, should be a fully initiated Christian through both Baptism and Confirmation, in as much as they are participating in the full, public worship and witness of the Church. They are fulfilling the apostolic mandate given by Christ: "Do this in memory of me." They are sharing in the pre-eminent work of Christ Himself, the first and greatest work of the Church: proclaiming the Paschal Mystery until Christ comes in glory to bring it to completion (SC 7-8). They are responding to the Call to Holiness. They ought, therefore, to be fully prepared for the life and mission they now share by being confirmed in the Holy Spirit prior to being initiated into the Eucharist. This participation does not depend on human gifts, talents, or age; it depends on truth and love. We can only love because God has first loved us. God conveys His love through Christ, the way, the truth and the life, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and chief among the instruments He uses are the Sacraments of Initiation.

Confirmation not only strengthens us and sets us aside as witnesses to the apostolic mission. This strengthening by the Holy Spirit also helps us to overcome the tendency to sin which remains in each of us even after Baptism. The gifts of the Holy Spirit foster the formation of supernatural virtue as well as strengthening the natural virtues in the human person. Confirmation cannot be properly looked at as a single event, done and then forgotten, like some type of 'immunization' or 'graduation'. Confirmation establishes an ongoing relationship with God which animates the ongoing growth in holiness which is the vocation (or call) of all the baptized. The gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit strengthen our souls by enabling a virtuous exercise of our will and our faculties for the Glory of God. Unduly delaying Confirmation for those who already receive Holy Communion fails to accord the person their proper role in the Eucharistic assembly, the life of the Church, and the strengthening of the sacraments. Worse than that, it could entail a denial of their right within the Church to receive the gift of the sacrament once they have met the conditions required by canon law: the age of reason and proper disposition of soul (i.e., in a state of grace and open to receiving the sacrament). (Canon 843)

Sometimes in our activist and production-oriented American society and culture we succumb to pragmatism looking at the Christian life and our sharing in the apostolic mission of the Church as a matter being able to "do" things for Christ, the Church or others. In fact, the Christian life is a gift and a call to truth and love given to us by God. It is first a matter of "being," of simply existing as a person created by God and redeemed by Him in Christ. We live out this truth and love in specific ways according to our age, talents, and unique vocation. At no point are the sacraments about what we have done or promise to do for God. They are God's free gift of grace to us. At the same time, these gifts of love entail an obligation to bear witness to God's love in word and deed by our collaboration in freedom with the grace given.

If one is not careful, service projects before Confirmation can seem to be demonstrating an ability to do things, and Confirmation becomes a type of graduation into an adult faith. This abuse of pragmatism can result in failing to recognize that the desire "to do" or to praise God is itself a grace, as is the capacity to do good (Weekday Preface IV ).

These ideas reveal a common misunderstanding of Confirmation by some, and as Bishop I want to take this opportunity to address them. Confirmation is not about an individual deciding to embrace the faith of Baptism. It is not a human act similar to that of non-Catholic Christians who, perhaps in their early teens, choose to publicly profess that they have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Sacraments are primarily about God choosing and embracing us not the other way around. In baptism, God marks us unconditionally as a member of His family and co-heir with Christ, children by adoption. (see Galatians 4:5-7) Once baptized, at whatever age, we can no more choose to cease being a child of God than we can choose to cease being the child of our natural mother. Confirmation is not our "confirming" Baptism or our faith in Christ; it is Christ confirming us in the Christian life we are already living. It is particularly important in East Texas that we avoid any sacramental catechesis that reflects the notion that Confirmation is a time for the person to individually embrace the faith or to become personally engaged in the work of the Church. It is in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, particularly at the offertory, that we present ourselves as a sacrifice to the Father. Indeed, each moment of daily life is a time to reaffirm the Call to Holiness by a commitment to love of God and neighbor. Each instant calls us to embrace Christ as He has embraced us. Above all, the celebration of the Eucharist is an appropriate sacramental moment for the individual to renew the commitment to service in the Church and in the community for the common good

Confirmation and the Sacrament of Penance

The Sacrament of Penance also allows us to renew our commitment to truth and service by restoring sanctifying grace and increasing actual grace in our souls. In Penance we become reconciled with God through the confession of our sins, desire to amend our life, and acceptance of acts of reparation. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is closely tied to Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist, restoring the bonds of communion established by the Sacraments of Initiation that have been subsequently weakened by venial sin and imperfections or broken by mortal sin. The grace of repentance from our sins is necessary for salvation. The Sacrament of Penance is ordinarily needed for the forgiveness of mortal sin and the return to sanctifying grace and the Eucharist. This explains why the Sacrament of Penance was considered in the early Church a type of "second Baptism" that restores the life of grace and reorders the penitent to the life of the Church and the celebration of the Eucharist. 

Throughout the history of the Church, frequent Confession has been recognized as a premier means of renewing one's commitment to Christ and for growing in holiness. Without penitence, that ongoing conversion expressed daily in prayer, self-denial, and works of mercy, our personal salvation is in danger because without penitence we are not living the Sacraments of Initiation fully; we are not united to Christ in dying completely to ourselves out of love for God and neighbor. This ongoing conversion, fostered in a particular way by the Sacrament of Penance, is necessary for encountering and adoring the All Holy God in a spirit of truth and purity of heart.

This explains the role of the Sacrament of Penance. It is about living the Sacraments of Initiation in the face of sinful inclinations and actions. Confession fosters and, if necessary, restores the life conferred in Baptism and Confirmation and nourished in the Eucharist. We confess not only when we have committed mortal sin, but regularly because we may have committed venial sins and have imperfections and we acknowledge that we need the help of God's grace to fulfill our desire to love God and neighbor perfectly in Christ. This understanding of Confession, which is that of the Saints and Doctors of the Church, is one that can be taught to anyone who has reached the age of reason regardless of whether they have received any sacrament beyond baptism. This understanding allows the Sacrament of Penance to emerge in its beauty as God's gift to us in our journey to Holiness rather than a painful process reserved for mortal sinners. It is seen for what it actually is an aid to living fully our sacramental lives.

It is fitting, then, that baptized Christians approaching Confirmation and the Table of the Lord be introduced into the fruitful celebration of the Sacrament of Penance as a regular part of the life of a Christian disciple. Preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation requires the same spiritual readiness of being in the state of grace, and of responding to the constant call to conversion that is essential for our daily Christian life and the worthy reception of the Eucharist. 

Let us consider the special affinity between the Sacrament of Penance, which aids us in the struggle for holiness, and Confirmation, which strengthens the Christian to bear faithful witness. Both sacraments aid us in our efforts to "avoid the things that lead to sin" in the face of our tendencies to sin that remain within us after Baptism. A Christian who is awaiting Confirmation or the Eucharist would not want to receive either sacrament without the renewal of baptismal grace available in the Sacrament of Penance. When we are in a state of mortal sin, cut off from communion with Christ and dead to the Christian life, we should not dare approach these sacraments of the Christian life until we are restored to communion with Christ. It is through an act of repentance and the Sacrament of Penance that we are reconciled to God and others through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

(Source: Catholic Culture)