Confirmation

Confirmation 22-23
 

Confirmation preparation is one of many opportunities for ongoing faith formation in the life of young people. It is the obligation of parents to see that their children continue to participate in the catechesis and other faith formation offered by the parish throughout their high school years, even after the celebration of Confirmation. The norm in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe is for Confirmation preparation to be a minimum two-year formation program that is made up of three phases.

• Inquier should be a high school Freshman, Sophomore, Junior or Senior (or an equivalent level if home schooled).
• Prior to entrance into the final preparation period for Confirmation, young people should have recently completed at least one year of catechesis or religious formation at the parish. Known as the Learner Phase of the Comprehensive Model for Youth Ministry, this first year may take place for adolescents in 8th grade.
• A final period of Confirmation preparation is the Disciple in Training Phase, it is one year long, and is held at the local parish for all candidates, including those attending Catholic high schools (9th thru 12th grade). This preparation is to include orientation, catechesis on the Sacrament of Confirmation, spiritual and community outreach
  activities, retreats, and the practical and liturgical arrangements for the celebration.
• During the final period of preparation for Confirmation, sessions will be included, using faith sharing and other adult formation methods, for parents and sponsors; thereby enabling parents and sponsors to better fulfill their mentoring roles.

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At confirmation we receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit and confirm our baptismal promises. Greater awareness of the grace of the Holy Spirit is conferred through the anointing of chrism oil and the laying on of hands by the Bishop.

Confirmation perfects Baptismal grace; it is the sacrament which gives the Holy Spirit in order to root us more deeply in the divine filiation, incorporate us more firmly into Christ, strengthen our bond with the Church, associate us more closely with her mission, and help us bear witness to the Christian faith in words accompanied by deeds. (CCC 1316)

Through the Sacrament of Confirmation we renew our baptismal promises and commit to living a life of maturity in the Christian faith. As we read in the Lumen Gentium (the Dogmatic Constitution of the Church) from the Second Vatican Council:

Bound more intimately to the Church by the sacrament of confirmation, [the baptized] are endowed by the Holy Spirit with special strength; hence they are more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith both by word and by deed as true witnesses of Christ. (no. 11)

Scriptural Foundation for Confirmation
In the Acts of the Apostles we read of the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. While baptism is the sacrament of new life, confirmation gives birth to that life. Baptism initiates us into the Church and names us as children of God, whereas confirmation calls us forth as God’s children and unites us more fully to the active messianic mission of Christ in the world.

After receiving the power of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the Apostles went out and confirmed others, showing confirmation to be an individual and separate sacrament: Peter and John at Samaria (Acts 8:5-6, 14-17) and Paul at Ephesus (Acts 19:5-6). Also the Holy Spirit came down on Jews and Gentiles alike in Caesarea, prior to their baptisms. Recognizing this as a confirmation by the Holy Spirit, Peter commanded that they be baptized (cf. Acts 10:47).