Never Confirmed

[oldwoman159]

I was Baptized as a baby, then later while attending Catholic School did my first confession and received my First Holy Communion in about oh 1958. Life brought about many changes for me so…I was never confirmed. So in my mind I am wondering do I really have to be Confirmed at all? I am a “Child” of God received Confession and Communion. Why Confirmation?

 

[fredystairs]

So in my mind I am wondering do I really have to be Confirmed at all?

I concur with (name removed by moderator). Much can be gained from receiving the sacrament.

Much of what follows is taken from Chapter VII Confirmation: Witness to Christ from O’Neill’s Meeting Christ in the Sacraments.

Baptism, confirmation, and holy orders are the three sacraments of the Church that give a character or a power to the recipient so that he may execute a specific mission in the Church. Of these three characters, the character received during the reception of the sacrament of confirmation is, by some accounts, the most vague.

Historically, there has been some confusion as to what effect the sacrament has on the recipient. It was common in the early Church, as it currently is in the Eastern Rite Churches, for the sacrament of confirmation to be administered immediately after baptism. Accordingly, there was little distinction between the two in the instructions for them.

Early documents state that there was a military character to the sacrament; that the recipient would be a soldier for Christ. Both pseudo-Melchiades and St. Thomas, in the Summa Theologica (ST. III, 72, 4, ad 3) make this analogy. However, that analogy is incomplete. The two sacraments, baptism and confirmation, together complete the initiation of the recipient into the Church. It provides him with a fullness of participation in the Church.

The ascended Christ, as the High Priest, shares his own holiness with men so that the Blessed Trinity can dwell in them by grace. For his part, the Holy Spirit has both an invisible and a visible mission in the Church and in the world to impart the holiness that Christ shares on all of humanity. The invisible mission of the Holy Spirit includes an outpouring of sanctifying grace especially during the reception of the sacraments. The descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 2: 1-3) is the manifestation of the indwelling of the Blessed Trinity in men and is part of the Spirit’s visible mission. One of the results of the descent of the Holy Spirit, manifested with tongues as of fire, was that the Apostles changed their focus from being just inward looking and started reaching out to others in a most dramatic fashion (Acts 2: 4-47). In effect, they went from being inward looking, as would a child, to being more outward looking, as would a mature adult.

continued

 

[fredystairs]

In a similar way, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at confirmation gives power to the recipient to get him outside of himself to more fully participate in the Church’s mission to bring the fruit of Christ’s priestly actions to all of mankind. St. Thomas explains this change in focus as a spiritual maturing of the recipient, which helps perfect him. Those who are only baptized he likens as babes while the confirmed are mature (ST. III, 72, 5, ad 1). This maturation is because the sanctifying grace received in confirmation is for growth and stability in righteousness (ST. III, 72, 7, ad 1). Further, St. Thomas explains that while those who die in a state of grace having only been baptized will be saved, one who is in danger of death should be confirmed because a lack of confirmation would be “detrimental to his perfection” (ST. III, 72, 8, ad 4).
The Church’s mission is to proclaim God’s word and to administer the sacraments; it is directed towards action. The Church shares in Christ’s mission of priest, prophet, and king and we likewise share that mission when we are baptized. However, as St. Thomas writes, we are conformed to Christ by the reception of confirmation and we receive a fullness of grace (ST. III, 72, 1, ad 4). Again we are made more perfect. The reception, therefore, gives us the necessary “tools,” as it were, to further Christ and His Church’s mission. Further, St. Thomas explains, as the Church is directed towards action, those who are confirmed are also directed toward sacred action (ST. III, 72, 5). The confirmed have the task of bringing Christ’s priestly actions into the world. In this way, they participate in His priestly activities and those activities of His sacrament, the Church. St Thomas explains this as the confirmed communicating “his actions to others.” (ST, III, q. 72, a 2).

This participation in the mission can take many forms. It not only includes activities such as teaching religious education classes, which is more directly an aspect of the preaching mission of the Church, but it also means bringing Christ’s mission to the market place, the workplace, anywhere that one interacts with the world, with others. It means living the spiritual and corporeal works of mercy in such a way that it can be an example for others. It can also mean taking an office or position in the secular world to direct the world to be more Christlike. Usually one will focus on one or two aspects of Christ’s message and making those aspects one’s life work. The confirmed’s mission is different from the ministerial priesthood since, in a certain aspect, the ministerial priesthood is more directed to work within the Church itself. It is the duty of the confirmed to come out from the Church to reach the world.

The Scriptures tell us to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew 6: 33). The confirmed’s duty, therefore, is to proclaim Christ’s message of loving God and neighbor (Matthew 22: 37-40) to the world. It is important that they do this because His message can get lost in the hustle and bustle of the workaday world.

I hope this helps.

Blessings

 

[oldwoman159]

It is interesting thank you.

 

[Casilda]

Eastern Catholics confirm infants along with their baptism, if anything, it avoids this sometimes overlooked sacramemt. I, too, was a cradle Roman Catholic who received FHC and then fell off the edge of the world, so to speak, when my parents left the church. I was finally restored, received into an Eastern Catholic church and confirmed when I married an Eastern Catholic.

 

[fredystairs]

You are quite welcome

 

[KatyCatholic]

Yep, super easy response. When I was in 5th grade, the school I was in prepped for Confirmation in 6th grade. When I was in 6th grade, I went to a school that prepped for Confirmation in 5th grade. Needless to say, I slipped through the cracks. Fast forward a couple decades, a civil marriage, and two daughters. Oh snap! I’ve not been to church in years and I have a responsibility to raise two faithful daughters … back to the church. Had to go through marriage classes and get my civil marriage convalidated and then we had a nice and wonderful wedding, a real one, in a church with a deacon and everything! Then sacrament prep for the kiddos, not too bad, baptism for kids under 7 is pretty easy. Got all that settled, then signed up for sacrament prep for Confirmation.

It is a big deal.

In simple terms, it’s what the Apostles did in the Gospels, they did the “lay on hands” thing and even to this day, a bishop will perform the Confirmation passing the tradition from Jesus, the Apostles, and all the way down to the very Bishop putting his hands on you. The Bishop that lays his hands on you had his bishop who laid his hands on him who had his hands laid on him by his bishop … who had hands layed on him by St. Peter. This is an outward sign that the Spirit dwells within you and is burning brightly!

I rather enjoyed the classes too, we had snacks and drinks, made some good friends we share mass with every week. I think I got a lot more out of it as an adult than I would have as a 5th or 6th grader, blessings in disguise!