1 Good morning.

I am very happy to see you attending this seminar in preparation for your
confirmation.
Thank you for showing your support to your children and godchildren.
They are now making decisions to receive this sacrament.
This sacrament is not a requirement and not automatic for those who are studying
in a Catholic Institution but rather it is an invitation,
 they are invited,
 and they are called to receive this sacrament.
They are on their own, they are now able to stand
and say they want to commit their lives to Christ.
Unlike before
that you carried them during baptism.

So, for you to accompany your children well on this journey.

I am inviting you to appreciate the symbols used in the Sacrament of Confirmation.
2 I know we all agree that sometimes words are not enough.

Sometimes it is not enough just to tell "I’m sorry."

It needs some action or touch, or a hug.

Sometimes it’s not enough to say, thank you or I love you.

3 We might give a gift.
This special gift can become more than just the object that is given.
 It can become a reminder of the one who gave the gift.
 It can become even more than a reminder:
 It can become a symbol.
It can evoke the presence of the giver, the occasion when it was given, and the
feelings that came with the gift.
4 Sacraments are like that, too.
As we define Sacrament as the “efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and
entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us” (CCC 1131).

In other words, a sacrament is a sacred and visible sign that is instituted by Jesus to
give us grace, an undeserved gift from God.

In the sacrament we use symbols, we call Sacramental symbols.

Sacramental symbols can say more than words alone
because, while words speak to our mind, symbols speak to our whole body.
5 Words may be able to explain what happens at Confirmation
and what it means to be confirmed.

But we really don’t know what Confirmation is until we experience the ritual
symbols of the sacrament
6 The primary symbol of Confirmation is the community itself.
 Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist are sacraments of initiation,
initiation into a community.

The community that gathers to celebrate the Confirmation is not there merely to watch;
it is the community into which we are being initiated.
The community is the sign of Christ’s presence for us

7 Every Confirmation begins with Baptism.

This is true
 whether the Baptism was celebrated only a few moments before
Confirmation
(as in many Eastern rites and in our Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults),
 whether the Baptism was celebrated before the first holy Communion,
 12 years before Confirmation,
 or even 50 years before Confirmation.

Confirmation complements the symbols of Baptism.

Confirmation means all that Baptism means.
8 The historical origins of the symbols of Confirmation are many and diverse.

One source of the rituals for the Sacrament of Confirmation

can be found in the bathing customs of the Roman Empire.

After a bath, Romans applied bath oil.

In our times, when you take a shower, you wash up and dry off.

In Roman times, oil was a part of the bathing ritual.

A bath included both water and oil.
9 Today, if a friend asked you to go to a movie
and you said, "Sure. But don’t come by until 6 p.m.
because you want to take a shower first,"

I suspect that by shower you include not only the washing up

but also the drying off.

Drying off is understood to be part of the total shower.

In the same way, the early Church saw Confirmation as a part of the Baptism
experience.
The water ritual (Baptism) came to mean the washing away of sin, and the oil ritual
(Confirmation) was interpreted to mean the sweet fragrance of God’s presence:
sanctifying grace.
10 We know that sin cannot be removed except by grace

God’s grace fills us with redemption and salvation.

 This grace, this presence of God in us, is the Holy Spirit.
Confirmation is the Sacrament of the Holy Spirit.

11 Another symbol in Confirmation is oil

What memories do you have of oil being applied to your body?
I remember my mother rubbing Vick’s Vapo-Rub on my chest
when I was little and had a cold
or the soothing ointment applied to my shoulder after an injury.
Or maybe some of you remember the sensation of applying suntan lotion
and lying on the beach in the sun.

12 Anointing can mean many things.

From ancient times, oil has been a symbol of strength, healing and agility.
For Jews, our ancestors in the faith,
oil is the sign of God appointing someone to be a priest, prophet and king.
Many Jews look forward to the time when a very special anointed one,
a Hebrew Messiah, will come to announce God’s reign.

The Hebrew word messiah means "anointed."

It’s a strong and important word.
13 Christians believe that Jesus of Nazareth was this anointed one.
Our Christian Scriptures were written in the Greek language
and "the Anointed One" is translated as "Christ" in Greek.

Some of us are so used to speaking of "Jesus Christ" that "Christ"

almost seems like Jesus’s last name.

We forget that it means Jesus, the Anointed One, the Messiah.As "Christ" means
"anointed," we call ourselves "Christians" because we are the anointed ones, the
"Oiled People," so to speak.

The Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist initiate us into that "oiled"
community, the community anointed to continue the vocation of the Messiah, the
Christ.
14 From ancient times, to impose hands on someone
or to extend one’s hand over the person’s head was a sign of calling down the Holy
Spirit.
 All seven sacraments employ this symbol.
We call the prayer which accompanies the imposition of hands an epiclesis, which is
an invocation.
15 At Baptism, the priest lays his hand on those to be baptized and marks them with
the sign of the cross.
In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the priest lays his hands on the head of the
penitent and proclaims the words of absolution.
During the Anointing of the Sick, the priest imposes hands on the person to be
anointed.

In the Sacrament of Holy Orders, the bishop imposes hands on the one to be
ordained priest.
During the Sacrament of Matrimony (Catholic marriage),
the presider extends hands over the couple who have pronounced their wedding
vows and calls the Holy Spirit upon them so that they may remain faithful in the
marriage covenant.
16 In the Sacrament of Eucharist, the priest invokes the Holy Spirit upon the gifts,
extends his hands over the bread and wine
and prays that the Holy Spirit change them into the Body and Blood of Christ
so that we who receive them may be changed into that Body.
17 In Confirmation,
the presider places his hand on the head of each one to be confirmed
and prays that the Holy Spirit descend upon them. You will hear this prayer: "
All-powerful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
by water and the Holy Spirit you freed your sons and daughters from sin
and gave them new life.
Send your Holy Spirit upon them to be their Helper and Guide.
Give them the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of right judgment and courage, the spirit of knowledge and reverence.
Fill them with the spirit of wonder and awe in your presence" (Rite of Confirmation,
#25).
18 This prayer asks for the graces which we have come to call
the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.
The number seven is itself a symbol of completeness, boldness, of abundance.
When we say that there are seven sacraments,
we mean more than their number is one plus six.
The seven sacraments imply the abundance of God’s love for us
and the all-sufficient nature of grace.
19 The words used in the rite are another symbol of Confirmation.
The words of the ceremony, the readings from Scripture, the homily,
the invitation of the presider, the prayer for the sevenfold Spirit:
All of these can help us learn the meaning of the sacrament.
When you are anointed, the presider first says your name
and then says, "Be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit."
20 Childs Name: What does it mean to be called by name?
 In Confirmation, we hear again the name we were given in Baptism.
Confirmation begins with Baptism.
21 Seal: This word has a rich meaning in our religion.
In earlier times a document was shown to be authentic by the author
putting his seal on the document (often with a signet ring) in a spot of hot wax.
This distinctive mark or seal was like the person’s signature.
In Confirmation, we receive God’s mark, God’s seal.
God permanently and eternally seals us as God’s Anointed Ones.

We receive the Sacrament of Confirmation only once.

What happens to us in Confirmation
so, conforms us to Christ that the sacrament can never be repeated.
We speak of this special conformity to Christ
as the sacramental character of Confirmation.
22 Gift: This is a keyword in the Sacrament of Confirmation.
It reminds us that we are celebrating God’s work.
Sometimes we prepare for Confirmation through years of study and service
and it may seem that Confirmation is a reward,
something we have earned.
But Confirmation is not our work.
It is God’s gift. And what is that gift?
The Holy Spirit is God’s first gift to those who believe.

When you think of the word "spirit," what comes to mind?

 School spirit?
 Team spirit?
When we speak of "team spirit,"
for example, we are referring to something which the members of the team possess
and also something that is "beyond" the individual members.
It is something that they all share, something that energizes them, something that
gives them a common goal and vision.

What are the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit?

Wisdom,
Understanding
Counsel,
Fortitude,
Knowledge
Piety and Fear of God.
23 That is what God’s Spirit does to us.
The Holy Spirit is God’s breath in us.
God’s breath gives our bodies a special (divine) life, energy, and enthusiasm.
The Spirit makes us not only like the members of a team,
but also makes us much more.
We become members of one body, Christ’s body.
 The Holy Spirit unites us in the Body of Christ so that,
with him, we can call God our Father, actually "Abba," which is more like Daddy.
It is this Holy Spirit that gives us our identity,
that tells us who we are: the Body of Christ.
24 St. Paul uses this analogy with the human body to describe our relationship with
Christ.
St. John uses a different analogy, that of a vine and its branches.
At the Last Supper Jesus says to the disciples, "I am the vine, you are the branches.
Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit because without me you
can do nothing" (John 15:5).
In this analogy, the Holy Spirit can be compared to the sap of the plant,
giving life to both vine and branches.
25 Now let us look at the prayers, In the Sacraments of Christian initiation
we are immersed in the passion, death and resurrection of Christ,
a plunge that is so deep and transforming that we,
“put on Christ” ( Rom:13:14)

26 At Baptism we pray over the water:

“Father, look now with love upon your Church,
and unseal for her the fountain of baptism.
By the power of the Holy Spirit give to this water the grace
of your Son, so that in the sacrament of baptism all those
whom you have created in your likeness may be cleansed
from sin and rise to a new birth of innocence by water and
the Holy Spirit.
27 At Confirmation, we learn what this new life in the Spirit implies:
“All-powerful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
by water and the Holy Spirit you freed your sons and daughters
from sin and gave them new life.
Send your Holy Spirit upon them to be their helper and guide.
Give them the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of right judgment and courage,
the spirit of knowledge and reverence.
Fill them with the spirit of wonder and awe in your presence.

28
Reminder:
This prayer names the “seven gifts” of the Holy Spirit.
The Prophet Isaiah taught that the seven gifts would be
the sign of the Messiah, the one anointed by the Holy Spirit.
The word Messiah, or Christos in Greek, means “anointed”.
Jesus is the Christ, the anointed one, the one filled with
the Holy Spirit.
At Confirmation, we are anointed with that
same Holy Spirit.
29 At the actual anointing during Confirmation, we hear the words,
“Be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

We are sealed by the gift which is the Holy Spirit.