More on Baptism

In Baptism God calls the baby into his own family, makes him/her his child, a child of God. The baby, through the parents, takes Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. The baby receives the Holy Spirit to help him/her to live as a child of God.

In Confirmation the child again receives the gift of the Spirit. The gift of the Holy Spirit in Confirmation is for a further role in the Church which will be primarily a mission; it is a strengthening of the child to spread God's Kingdom.

Baptism and Confirmation are closely linked and are seen as two of the three sacraments that complete the initiation of people into the Christian community.

In Baptism God the Father calls the baby into his family, and the parents and godparents make a faith response for the baby. At Baptism it is the parents and godparents who undertake to help the child to grow in faith.

In Confirmation God the Father again calls the child and with the help of the Holy Spirit the child is able to respond. Now the child renews his/her own baptismal promises, claims Jesus as Lord and Saviour and is ready in the power of the Holy Spirit to undertake responsibilities for the spreading of God's kingdom.

"By the Sacrament of Confirmation the faithful are more perfectly bound to the Church and are endowed with the special strength of the Holy Spirit. Hence they are, as true witnesses of Christ, more strictly obliged to spread the faith by word and deed" (Vat. II, Church, No. 11).

The Church's understanding of the Sacrament of Confirmation has changed and developed over the centuries. In the early Church the taking on of responsibility for the spreading of God's Kingdom was an integral part of the response of the newly confirmed to the reception of the Sacrament of Confirmation_ Later, as very young children were confirmed the taking on of responsibilities was no longer realistic. Over the years there has been a gradual raising of the age for the reception of Confirmation.

Nowadays, many people who are involved with the preparation of eleven and twelve year olds for the Sacrament of Confirmation, while seeing Confirmation as part of the whole process of Christian initiation, also see the value of challenging these young people to give a response to the reception of this sacrament. The response should be in keeping with their age, ability and experience. At this age they are ready to respond to a challenge.

The sacrament of confirmation therefore completes the sacrament of baptism. If baptism is the sacrament of re-birth to a new and supernatural life, confer- mation is the sacrament of maturity and coming of age. The real confession of Christ consist in this 'that the whole man submits himself to Truth, in the judgment of his understanding, in the submission of his will and in the consecration of his whole power of love . . . To do this, poor-spirited man is only able when he has been confirmed by God's grace'

This confirmation in the power of the Holy Spirit leading to a firm profession of faith has always been the particular effect which Catholic tradition has ascribed to the sacrament. It is effect which complements and completes that of baptism.

THE CHURCH TEACHES:

That Confirmation is a true sacrament instituted by Christ and different from baptism. It is administered by laying-on of hands and anointing with the oil of chrism accompanied by prayer. The chrism is blessed by the bishop and the bishop administers the sacrament. All baptised persons can and should be confirmed. The effect of the sacrament of conflimation is to give strength in faith and for the confession of faith and to impress an indelible character.