Sacrament of Confirmation?

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Ok, so I was half-raised as a Catholic when I was a kid. I was baptized as a Catholic, and I had my first confession and my first communion. However, my dad completely left the church when I was about 8, and I did too. I was never confirmed. I came back to the church when I was 14, it’s been several months and now I’m 15. I didn’t worry terribly about confirmation at first, because I had heard most people are confirmed within their teenage years anyways, but now I’m thinking about it.

I’m not totally sure what confirmation is, to be honest. I’m going to try my very best to get into a Catechism class. I looked into RCIA at one point, but I don’t know, because I did already have the basic Catholic teachings and some of the Sacraments, and even though my dad left the church when I was 8, my grandparents were still devout, and I took a couple short catechism courses (last one when I was 12) and such. So I’m not sure about RCIA, but I definitely do need some sort of class on Catholicism - which may be difficult, considering how my mother is against the church and my dad just thinks it’s silly, or easy, because the church I go to is very large and actually part of a private catholic school and within easy biking distance. I just don’t know.

So what I’m asking here is just kind of…background information on Confirmation. What is it? What do you need to receive it? That sort of thing. At my last catechism class, the teacher talked briefly about it, btu didn’t go into details because we were probably expected to come back the next year (it was a summer class).
 
YES, you need the sacrament if you are to be truly Catholic! It completes your baptism, and it confirms your personal commitment to your life in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. My parish Confirmation process is a two year journey leading to the Sacrament of Confirmation. Read the piece the previous poster gave. But if you are sincere in your desire to follow the faith of your baptism, to be a follower of Christ, you will want to and need to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation.

God bless you in your journey! I will be praying for you!!
 
robert_chacon said:
YES, you need the sacrament if you are to be truly Catholic! It completes your baptism, and it confirms your personal commitment to your life in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. My parish Confirmation process is a two year journey leading to the Sacrament of Confirmation. Read the piece the previous poster gave. But if you are sincere in your desire to follow the faith of your baptism, to be a follower of Christ, you will want to and need to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation.

God bless you in your journey! I will be praying for you!!
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Thank you 🙂 I absolutely never doubted that I needed it, of course! After all, it’s a holy sacrament! I’ll look into what my parish offers for preparing for and receiving confirmation. 🙂
 
Confirmation, the third and final sacrament of initiation, following Baptism and Holy Communion, is awesome! The Sacrament confirms your commitment to God. At Confirmation, the bishop (or sometimes priest) puts holy Chrism oil on the candidate’s head, saying; “Be sealed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Peace be with you”. This action is called anointment, which means “to be chosen”. Confirmation renews our relationship with God as His chosen people who willingly commit to serve Him and His people with love.
 
When baptized, others answer for us. When we are confirmed, we answer for ourselves. There’s a big difference. It’s a very important sacrament, essential, and I’m glad you’ve been asking on the fórum and looking into it, and catechism, seriously.

Yeah, your parish is the place to ask about classes.

I’m 49 y.o., and I am taking sort of like a catechism class for adults. It’s called a “pastoral group”. We have classes 2 hrs/week, approximately. We can go up to 13 years, I think! So, what I’m saying is that we never should stop learning about our faith.

When you finish your class, then why not take a Catholic Bible study or a pastoral group, something where you always continue to learn?
 
Oh, and congratulations on wanting to be confirmed! :)👍:bounce::yup::clapping:
 
Confirmation is your personal participation in Pentecost.

The disciples locked themselves in the upper room out of fear before Pentecost. After Pentecost they spoke out boldly, not afraid even to die.

That is what the sacrament of confirmation is.

-Tim-
 
The Catechism of the Catholic Church
II. The Signs and the Rite of Confirmation

1293 In treating the rite of Confirmation, it is fitting to consider the sign of anointing and what it signifies and imprints: a spiritual seal. Anointing, in Biblical and other ancient symbolism, is rich in meaning: oil is a sign of abundance and joy; it cleanses (anointing before and after a bath) and limbers (the anointing of athletes and wrestlers); oil is a sign of healing, since it is soothing to bruises and wounds; and it makes radiant with beauty, health, and strength.

1294 Anointing with oil has all these meanings in the sacramental life. The pre-baptismal anointing with the oil of catechumens signifies cleansing and strengthening; the anointing of the sick expresses healing and comfort. The post-baptismal anointing with sacred chrism in Confirmation and ordination is the sign of consecration. By Confirmation Christians, that is, those who are anointed, share more completely in the mission of Jesus Christ and the fullness of the Holy Spirit with which he is filled, so that their lives may give off “the aroma of Christ.”

1295 By this anointing the confirmand receives the “mark,” the seal of the Holy Spirit. A seal is a symbol of a person, a sign of personal authority, or ownership of an object. Hence soldiers were marked with their leader’s seal and slaves with their master’s. A seal authenticates a juridical act or document and occasionally makes it secret.

1296 Christ himself declared that he was marked with his Father’s seal. Christians are also marked with a seal: “It is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has commissioned us; he has put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.” This seal of the Holy Spirit marks our total belonging to Christ, our enrollment in his service for ever, as well as the promise of divine protection in the great eschatological trial.

…]

III. The Effects of Confirmation

1302 It is evident from its celebration that the effect of the sacrament of Confirmation is the special outpouring of the Holy Spirit as once granted to the apostles on the day of Pentecost.

From this fact, Confirmation brings an increase and deepening of baptismal grace:
—it roots us more deeply in the divine filiation which makes us cry, “Abba! Father!”;
—it unites us more firmly to Christ;
—it increases the gifts of the Holy Spirit in us;
—it renders our bond with the Church more perfect;
—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, to confess the name of Christ boldly, and never to be ashamed of the Cross: Recall then that you have received the spiritual seal, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of right judgment and courage, the spirit of knowledge and reverence, the spirit of holy fear in God’s presence. Guard what you have received. God the Father has marked you with his sign; Christ the Lord has confirmed you and has placed his pledge, the Spirit, in your hearts.

1304 Like Baptism which it completes, Confirmation is given only once, for it too imprints on the soul an indelible spiritual mark, the “character,” which is the sign that Jesus Christ has marked a Christian with the seal of his Spirit by clothing him with power from on high so that he may be his witness.

1305 This “character” perfects the common priesthood of the faithful, received in Baptism, and “the confirmed person receives the power to profess faith in Christ publicly and as it were officially (quasi ex officio).”
 
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