Confirmation

Welcome to the O.L.F. confirmation program. According to the teachings of the Church:

"Parents have the first responsibility for the education of their children. They bear witness to this responsibility first by creating a home where tenderness, forgiveness, respect, fidelity, and disinterested service are the rule. The home is well suited for education in the virtues. This requires an apprenticeship in self-denial, sound judgment, and self -mastery -the preconditions of all true freedom. Parents should teach their children to subordinate the 'material and instinctual dimension s to interior and spiritual ones.' mParents have a grave responsibility to give good example to their children. By knowing how to acknowledge their own failings to their children, parents will be better able ta guide and correct them. " (CCC 2223)

"Education in the faith by the parents should begin in the child's earliest years. This already happens when family members help one another ta grow in faith by the witness of a Christian life in keeping with the Gospel. Family catechesis precedes, naccompanies, and enriches other forms of instruction in the faith . Parents have the mission of teaching their children to pray and to discover their vacation as children of God. The parish is the Eucharistic community and the heart of the liturgical life of Christian families; it is a privileged place for the catechesis of children and parents. "(CCC 2226)

The Sacrament of Confirmation Preparation at O.L.F is about two years and usually starts in 7th grade with the receiving of the sacrament in 9th grade. (We also have programs for adults)

 
Definition

A sacrament in which the Holy Spirit is given to those already baptized in order to make them strong and perfect Christians and soldiers of Jesus Christ. The reception of the sacrament of Confirmation is necessary for the completion of baptismal grace ... "By the sacrament of Confirmation (the baptized) are more perfectly bound to the Church and are enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit." (CCC No. 1285, LG No. 11)

Effects

Baptism, the Eucharist, and the sacrament of Confirmation together constitute the "sacraments of Christian initiation,'" whose unity must be safeguarded. It must be explained to the faithful that the reception of the sacrament of Confirmation is necessary for the completion of baptismal grace. For "by the sacrament of Confirmation, [the baptized] are more perfectly bound to the Church and are enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit. Hence, they are, as true witnesses of Christ, more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith by word and deed." CCC 1285

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. CCC1302

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. CCC 1302

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. CCC 1303

Biblical References

John 20:22 - And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit."

Acts 2:17 - I will pour out a portion of my spirit upon all flesh.

2 Cor 1:21-22 - But the one who gives us security with you in Christ and who anointed us is God; he has also put his seal upon us and given the Spirit in our hearts as a first installment.

The Essential Rite

In the case of confirmation, Christ bestowed upon the Apostles the power of giving the Holy Ghost, but He did not specify the ceremony by which this gift should be conferred; the Apostles and the Church, acting under Divine guidance, fixed upon the imposition of hands, the anointing, and the appropriate words. The Sacrament of Confirmation is conferred through the anointing with Chrism on the forehead, which is done by the laying on of hands, and through the words, "Be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit."

Those to be Confirmed

To receive confirmation licitly outside the danger of death requires that a person who has the use of reason be suitably instructed, properly disposed , and able to renew the baptismal promises. Can. 889 §2

The sacrament of confirmation is to be conferred on the faithful at about the age of discretion unless the conference of bishops has determined another age, or there is danger of death, or in the judgment of the minister a grave cause suggests otherwise. Can. 891

Marriage

Catholics who have not yet received the sacrament of confirmation are to receive it before they are admitted to marriage if it can be done without grave inconvenience. Can. 1065 § 1.

Baptism

To be permitted to take on the function of sponsor a person must: be a Catholic who has been confirmed and has already received the most holy
sacrament of the Eucharist and who leads a life of faith in keeping with the function to be taken on. Can. 874 § 1.