Confirmation

In light of the fact that many confirmations are now rapidly approaching throughout the Catholic Church, I wish to publish the article I have written for this April's newsletter for the parish where I work as a youth minister. I hope it will be edifying for you all.

There are two trends in popular Catholicism coexisting in a rather contradictory way: that Confirmation is the sacrament by which a teen accepts the faith personally and at the same time the sacrament by which a teen is no longer obliged to live the faith personally.

The first of these is due to a misunderstanding of what the word “confirmation” means. People believe that the Sacrament of Confirmation is a chance for teenagers to “confirm” their parents’ decision to have them baptized into the Catholic Church. This is partly correct: Confirmation is a chance to confirm the faith for oneself. The problem is that every day, and especially every Mass, is a chance to confirm the faith for oneself. A faithful teenage Catholic has already confirmed the choice of his or her parents hundreds of times. Conversion is ongoing and requires that a person choose each and every day to practice their faith (Luke 9:23).

The second of these trends is due to an over-emphasis on Confirmation as the final Sacrament of Initiation. Many think that since initiation is complete with Confirmation, a confirmed person is “fully Catholic.” Those who leave the Church after Confirmation reason that since they have gone through all of “Catholic initiation,” they have graduated from the days of attending Mass or praying daily, but that begs the question: what is initiation good for if you’re not going to follow through? The whole purpose of any initiation is to get a person ready for the full-blown version of whatever they’re being initiated into.

So, if these two trends are misconceptions, then what is Confirmation really? The word “confirmation” comes from the Latin for “strengthening.” It is a sacrament which gives an individual the ability to stand firm in the faith. It is not primarily a rite of passage in which a person confirms the choice of his or her parents, nor is it a sacrament which completes the truly life-long work of conversion. It is the sacramental completion of a process of initiation designed to strengthen a person in the gifts of the Holy Spirit and prepare that person for living a full, active Catholic Christian life.

The Romans used a term, munus, for describing the various offices in their government. The Church adopted that term when speaking of the many aspects of Christian life. Munus means two things simultaneously: gift and duty. When an emperor gave someone a munus, it was both a gift and a duty for that person. It was a gift because it raised a person’s rank and status; it was a duty because a person had to live up to it. The Christian life is the same: it is a gift because it raises us up, even to be like God Himself, as the saints are; it is a duty because it comes with the responsibility to allow the gift to penetrate our lives and make us truly worthy of the gift. Confirmation is also a gift and a duty. Along with the other sacraments, it gives us the strength we need to continue along the Christian life and grow in holiness, but it also gives us the grave obligation to unwrap and use the gifts God gives us to grow in holiness.

Our understanding of Christian life and of the Sacrament of Confirmation needs to be renewed. That renewal can only begin in the hearts and homes of the faithful, but with God’s grace, it will spread through the Church like a wildfire. “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!” –Luke 12:49

His Servant and Yours,

Micah