Holy Confirmation

 

The Sacrament of Confirmation was instituted by Jesus on Pentecost Sunday when He sent the Holy Spirit, as He promised upon the Apostles gathered in the Upper Room in Jerusalem. (Acts 2: 1-42). The Latin word sacramentum means "a sign of the sacred." The word "confirmation" actually means a strengthening, meaning to deepen your relationship with God. These practices are usually used in faiths that believe in infant baptism. Confirmation comes later in life when a child reaches the age of accountability, which varies among the individual faiths that practice confirmation. Confirmation typically involves a time of training in God's Word and Christian doctrine, followed by an examination and/or recitation of what has been learned.

The Biblical confirmation, each person should seek, is salvation. Jesus says that He is the way the truth and the life and that no one can come to the Father (be saved) except through Him (John 14:6). Acts 2:21 promises that everyone that calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Young adults confirm, what was pronounced for them by their parents and God-Parents on the day of their Baptism as infants. They will confirm all that was said, making it fully their own by an act of free will, ratifying what was spoken for them in the beginning of their life in Christ at Baptism. They will pronounce themselves disciples of Christ in His Holy Catholic Church.

They will also, at that moment, become Soldiers of Christ. We are called soldiers of Jesus Christ to indicate how we must resist the attacks of our spiritual enemies and secure our victory over them by following and obeying Our Lord.

The bishop is the ordinary minister of Confirmation because in some foreign missions, where bishops have not yet been appointed, the Holy Father permits one of the priests to administer Confirmation with the Holy Oil blessed by the bishop. The bishop extends his hands over those who are to be confirmed, prays that they may receive the Holy Ghost, and anoints the forehead of each with holy chrism in the form of a cross.