Have you ever wondered why you were confirmed? Did you notice anything different happen to you after you were confirmed? Today we are going to talk about Confirmation. If you have been here the last few Sundays, then you know I have been covering the Sacraments of the Church. We started with Baptism, then Anointing of the Sick and last Sunday was Marriage. Today we are looking at the Sacrament of Confirmation, its effects and the purpose of Confirmation.
First, we should review what a Sacrament is. It is a sign instituted by Christ that brings grace in our lives. Grace is necessary for salvation. No grace, no salvation. In other words, that is translated as going to hell. The sacraments are very serious and amazing things. I was shocked at today’s Gospel, actually, to be more specific, at Matthew’s rendering of this same passage. Everything is pretty much the same except one verse and it is a whopper. In the Gospel of Matthew, after the shaking of the dust off the sandals, Jesus said that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for a town that does not accept the Gospel. Isn’t that crazy?! Maybe you are wondering what the big deal is, so I will tell you. The land of Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed for being sexually perverse, so much so that they asked Lot to put his two visitors outside of his house so they could sexually abuse them. Traditionally, we know that Lot’s visitors were angels or the Son and the Holy Spirit. Their town was wiped out for their sin, yet, as perverse as these people were, it will be easier on them than on people who do not receive the Gospel. Seriously? Yes, lower than the most sexually depraved people will be the ones who refuse the Gospel message. I know, I was shocked, too. What happened to the nice fluffy Jesus that we heard about in Catechism? The Lamb is now showing as the Lion of Judah. How then does this fit in with Confirmation?
Why were we confirmed? There are many theories out there about Confirmation. Some say you are confirming your faith, finally making a decision that you didn’t get to make in Baptism. That is not true. Because, by this time, the person who had you baptized should have explained and told you about the great blessing you received in Baptism, how you are now set aside for a special purpose to fulfill the mission of God. By the time you are ready to be confirmed you should be like, “I want to share in the mission that God has for me. God set me free from slavery to sin and now I want to share the Good News with others.” Now you might be thinking that that does not describe your experience, and it definitely wasn’t mine either. I had no instruction on what it meant to be baptized and no instruction of what it meant to be confirmed. But the good news about the Sacraments is that the gifts, the grace and the power are there and you can start using this Sacrament today, even if you have never used it before.
Confirmation stirs up the gifts you received in Baptism and has you use them so you can take part in your mission. What is your mission? Let’s talk about that. In our Diocese, the leader, or person who has been entrusted with all the souls of the Diocese, is Bishop Joseph at this time. Bishop Joseph has a mission to bring all the souls in his territory to heaven. That is a big job because there are many souls and 120,000 square kilometres. So, the bishop lays hands on men and gives them some of his sacramental power in order that there will be more grace in the Diocese, more Sacramental Grace, more chances of salvation. However, he only has a few helpers, let’s say twenty, and that is not enough to reach all the people in his diocese, so the Bishop goes around and lays hands on all his Catholics at a certain age so they, too, can help him in his mission to save all the souls in this region. Once confirmed, you and I are now part of the mission of the Church. We are to be a disciple and to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
We do this by the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit which are confirmed in us at Confirmation. The seven-fold gifts help us to fulfill our mission in Christ Jesus. How do we use these gifts? We ask to use them and to know what they do. The gifts are counsel, wisdom, understanding, knowledge, fear of the Lord, courage and piety. Each one of these helps us fulfill our mission to bring the Good News to others. How often should we use and ask for them? Every day. I took on the practice of assigning a gift for each day of the week. When I pray in the morning to use the sacramental grace well that day, I mention the gift and ask to use it. In the first week that I did this, I made a short study of each of the gifts and journaled how I had used the gift each day. It was pretty amazing to see the effects of the gifts because I specifically asked to use them. I encourage you to do the same: assign a gift for each day of the week and ask to have the Spirit stirred up in you each day. The Holy Spirit is the one who brings life to our faith. Just as our bodies without the spirit are dead, so it is the same with the Church. If you feel your faith is dead and boring, ask the Holy Spirit to enliven you and transform you, to breathe new life in you and you will see the things of God come alive. You will see the Sacraments come alive.
To recap, grace is necessary for salvation. The Sacraments are the ordinary means of grace. We get grace because we have asked for it and that helps us fulfill our mission, which is a mission of life and death.