Every sacrament confers sanctifying grace, but each sacrament
also confers its own proper sacramental grace. In addition to sanctifying
grace, the sacrament of confirmation brings an increase and deepening of
baptismal grace, roots us more deeply in divine sonship, unites us more firmly
to Christ, increases in us the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit, renders our
bond with the church more perfect, gives us a special strength to witness,
spread, and defend the faith boldly and without shame, and imprints on the soul
an indelible spiritual mark with the seal of the Holy Spirit (“Catechism of the
Catholic Church,” 1303).
For centuries, the sacrament of confirmation has been associated
with themes of maturity and combat. The 1566 Roman Catechism taught that by confirmation
one “becomes stronger with the strength of a new power and thus begins to be a
perfect soldier of Christ.” Generations of American Catholics memorized the
following from the Baltimore Catechism: “Confirmation is a Sacrament through
which we receive the Holy Ghost to make us strong and perfect Christians and
soldiers of Jesus Christ.” In the first half of the 20th century, increased lay
involvement in the life and mission of the church was encouraged by
ecclesiastical leadership, especially by Popes Leo XIII, Pius X and Pius XI,
becoming the movement known as Catholic Action. On the eve of the Second
Vatican Council, the sacrament of confirmation was seen by many as the
sacrament of Catholic action and responsibility. Becoming a soldier for Christ
meant active participation in the external mission of the church. Thus, Vatican
II interprets for us what it means to be enrolled as a soldier of Christ: “The
lay apostolate … is a participation in the salvific mission of the Church
itself. Through their baptism and confirmation all are commissioned to that
apostolate by the Lord Himself” (“Lumen gentium,”
33).
The descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost is the primary
scriptural scene used analogously to teach and understand confirmation’s effect
on the soul. Just as the disciples’ fear in the wake of the Passion of Christ
kept them in hiding but the fire of the Holy Spirit compelled them to begin
their apostolic mission, so too the recipient of confirmation receives the Holy
Spirit for the strength necessary for the lay apostolate. Pope Paul VI taught
that confirmation “in a certain way perpetuates the grace of Pentecost in the
Church.”
What other scriptural scene may be used to augment our
understanding of confirmation insofar as it perfects, or completes, baptismal
grace and also “roots us more deeply in the divine filiation”? The account of
the baptism of Jesus contains all the spiritual imagery to provide a robust
understanding of confirmation. As Jesus emerges from the water, the Holy Spirit
descends upon him in the form of a dove, and the voice of God says of him,
“This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” Catechists preparing young
people for confirmation may find in this account a means of overcoming certain
modern misconceptions about the sacrament. The young person, baptized years ago
and now bearing a new name, has the Spirit descend upon him and the voice of
God, through the church, say to him, “You are my beloved son or daughter in
whom I am well pleased.” It is God himself who both affirms and supernaturally
confirms — strengthens — the young person to be whom he or she is as a
child of God. It is not something the teenager does for God, nor is it taking
classes, doing service projects and attending retreats that somehow makes one
“worthy” to be confirmed; rather, like all the sacraments, confirmation is a
great gift from God to be received freely, albeit with preparation, for one
must know how to use a gift wisely. This scriptural analogy also ties in the
confirmation motif of spiritual battle, for it was after his baptism that “the
Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness” (Mk 1:12) where Jesus was
tempted and was with the wild beasts. One preparing for confirmation must then
understand that he or she, upon being confirmed, will likewise head out into
the wilderness of life for combat, where there will be the temptations of the
world and the wild beasts of the passions against which to struggle, but having
received the Spirit, he or she must take to heart the consoling words of God:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine”
(Isa 43:1).
Wallace is an adjunct professor
at Christendom Graduate School of Theology in Alexandria.