If Baptism begins the process of initiating us into the family of believers and reorients us toward God himself as our source of life and direction, then what is next? How do we begin to respond to this new life received in so great a Sacrament? From the earliest days of the Church, when those being initiated into the Christian community were adults and able to speak of their personal faith and commitment to this new way of life, the Sacrament we know today as Confirmation was celebrated at the same time a person was Baptized. Baptism, as we have seen the last two weeks, took away sin and restored a person to the path of holiness. To be sealed in the Holy Spirit, accomplished by the laying on of hands and the anointing with the oil of Chrism, completed the initiation process. The fully initiated adult would then take his or her place at the table of the Eucharist, and receive the precious Body and Blood of our Lord for the first time. All three sacraments were received together, in this order, and the new Christian began living a committed and chosen way of life in Christ. When we as a Church moved to bring infants into the faith, concerned for their immortal life should the unbaptized child die before having sin removed, the sacraments of initiation became disconnected and disjointed. Since the full initiation of a Christian required a profession of faith, freely chosen and freely voiced, one who could not yet speak for him or herself could not be fully initiated. Baptism as we have said was celebrated on the strength of the faith of parents and godparents. Confirmation would wait for the baptized person to reach an age when such a sacrament could be chosen by him or her. No longer directly connected to initiation, Confirmation became a sacrament more in keeping with a re-affirmation of baptism. In short, it has become more a sacrament that asks the baptized person if he or she is ready to live the life that his or her parents committed him or her to when an infant. The question then arises as to when a person would be capable to make this kind of statement, and what would be required of the candidate for confirmation to show that the Christian life was already being lived in his or her life. Church law stipulates that the age of reason, age 7, is the earliest time for a person to be capable of choosing the Christian life for him or herself. Technically, when a child of 7 years or older asks, on their own, to be baptized, he or she is also to be confirmed. While this may not be the present practice in most parishes, such a practice would require ongoing catechesis and formation throughout the person's life and the understanding that many of our people have today, that formation in faith ends with being confirmed. Confirmation as either a sacrament of initiation, or one of commitment, looks to the same things in the person being confirmed. We as a Church, and specifically as a parish, have the responsibility to not only provide the environment for firm formation to take place, through class time, activities calling forth Christian service to neighbor, and celebrations of Catholic life in Eucharist and sacrament, just to name a few, but also to provide the daily challenge to ongoing formation. The person being confirmed and therefore completing his or her initiation into the Catholic Christian faith, is making a statement that he or she will live this faith fully for the rest of their lives. Those “candidates” who go through the motions to simply satisfy a parent's wish, or to “get it over with”, clearly lack the understanding and ability to make such a life choice. Such “candidates” for Confirmation are not ready, and therefore should forestall their completion of initiation to a later time when they are sufficiently prepared to accept both the rights and responsibilities as fully initiated Catholic Christians. Confirmation was never to be seen as a sort of “graduation” from religious education or further faith formation. It has always been seen as a true Sacrament, given to the Church by Christ himself that confirms the person's life in Christ, to be lived and developed for the rest of our lives. As such it is a sacrament celebrated by the whole community, as more and more members join in the quest to proclaim the Gospel of Christ to the whole world in every aspect of our lives. As the strength o f faith of our newly confirmed members grows, so too the faith of the whole community grows. And so I have asked and will continue to ask all who step forward to be Confirmed, if they are ready and willing to live a life of faith, daily, as set forth by the Catholic Church to which they are committing themselves. Only a firm “Yes” will do, for we do not need more people who complete their initiation and in effect leave us, but rather complete their initiation and begin the work of being Christian.

© 2005 Peter J. Andrews