How do we pinpoint the moment in life that makes us an adult? We all grow from tiny little and totally dependent babies on our parents to very quickly learn to speak, eat and talk. We go to school to gain knowledge and acquire life experience. Then before you know it, we pursue a specific field of work. Many find a spouse and start a new family; some take other paths that God may call them to. However, the question remains where precisely in this very ordinary journey of life do we mark the defining point of childhood to adulthood?
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| Three generations, 11 June 2023 |
Think of a tree that towers over the skies casting shade from the scorching sun and offering branches of shelter and protection. Although the tree may be fully grown, it remains the same tree that was once a tiny seed that fell to the ground, watered, and given the proper nourishment. That preparation which all began with a small seed needing only warmth, food and water, was always the groundwork to someday branch out as the home to the birds of the sky.
In the blog Why do Catholics baptise their babies?, the emphasis was made that baptism brings us into one family as a child of God. Now the sacrament of confirmation does not redo our baptism. That sacrament can never be repeated, leaving a permanent mark of grace upon our soul. Confirmation is different to baptism. In baptism, our parents, out of love, present us before the Lord as an infant (in most cases for families raised Catholic). At confirmation, we come before the Lord again, this time grateful for our baptism with the desire to want to receive the Holy Spirit more deeply.
We may not understand it fully at the time, but our confirmation says I want to fall in love with you more profoundly, O Lord. I want to be sealed for all eternity with the gift of the Holy Spirit holding nothing back. Very much how letters of importance hundreds of years ago were sealed with a stamp and wax only to be broken by the receiver. Confirmation seals us with the Holy Spirit to be sent back to our creator at our death. Finally, our confirmation confirms God will someday reveal himself to us when we are ready to see Him in fullness by opening our seal with His touch of love.
So what is confirmation all about, then?
1. We call it confirmation because it confirms and strengthens our baptismal grace (CC 266).
2. The candidate is anointed with Sacred Chrism (that is, oil mixed with balsam and consecrated by the bishop) and then involves the laying on of the hand of the bishop who says, "Be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit" (CC, 267).
3. Only those who have been baptised and are in a state of grace can receive this sacrament (CC 268).
What if I remember sinning straight after my confirmation or feeling like nothing ever happened at the moment?
Well, then, you are looking in the wrong places for results. If we go back to the tree analogy, the tiny seed cast roots into the ground to anchor it before it started to sprout about the ground. Confirmation did something to the roots of our tree of faith. It fertilises them to grow deeper, broader and stronger, breaking through the previously impenetrable ground and finding new sources of nutrients and underground water tables to nourish the tree above.
The Holy Spirit does not force growth but only enables it. God loves us by giving us the freedom to choose to do good or evil. If he limited his love to forcing us to always choose good, that would make us slaves to Him. So from the moment of confirmation and over our lifetime, we will always have nutrient-rich soil to grow in. However, it's still our roots, and God will allow you to dip and suck the nutrients up if you so wish. God knocks on our doors in various ways, always inviting us to go further in our faith. Every Mass we attend is an encounter with God, and if we open our hearts, we may hear how he could be calling us in small ways, but we need to desire it.
The effect of confirmation is, therefore, an awareness that I am a child of God, which is dearly loved by my Heavenly Father. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit bonds me closer to Jesus Christ and the communion of saints (the Church made up of believers, departed souls and Saints). Finally, confirmation infuses within our souls more intensely the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord.
The fruits of the Holy Spirit manifest within us over time, and they are the results of some spiritual growth. However, like a tree, the initial seed was required to bear fruit on solid branches someday. Every Christian requires baptism (the seed) and constant fertiliser (confirmation) to produce that fruit. For a Christian, there is no defining point between childhood and adulthood, as the journey of spiritual growth never stops, as God's love has no bounds. This means we remain infinitely children of God but with the stature of adults.
"Amen, Amen, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me, receives the one who sent me." (John 13:20?)
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