Confirmation
“And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom
and understanding, the spirit of counsel and fortitude, the spirit of
knowledge, and of godliness. And he shall be filled with the spirit of
the fear of the Lord” (Is. 11:2).
Baptism is the sacrament of spiritual birth: Confirmation is the sacrament
of spiritual light, strength and perfection. Anyone who has been baptized is
a candidate for Confirmation. The ordinary minister of Confirmation is a
bishop¹ who places his hand on the candidate and anoints the forehead with
holy oil mixed with balm in the shape of a cross, while saying the words
“Be sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit,”² or as in the Eastern rites, “The
seal of the gift that is the Holy Spirit.” The oil signifies light and strength;
the balm the sweet odour of sanctity.
Like Baptism, which it completes, Confirmation is given only once as it too
imprints an indelible spiritual mark on the soul. This character perfects the
baptismal priesthood of the faithful and fully equips one for the battle of
professing faith in Christ publicly. It makes us soldiers of Christ by greatly
increasing the life of sanctifying grace in our souls and leading us to live a
more holy life undeterred by human respect or the “spirit of the world.”
Over and over again the Popes have urged the laity to be faithful to the
grace of their Confirmation by living and acting as soldiers and apostles of
Christ. According to Pope Pius XII, “By the chrism of Confirmation, the
faithful are given added strength to protect and defend the Church, their
mother, and the faith She has given them” (Mystici Corporis).
With sanctifying grace we also receive the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Given to us firstly in Baptism, these gifts are now received in a fuller and
more perfect form to enable us to lead the life of a spiritual adult and
1
In the East, ordinarily the Priest who baptizes also immediately confers
Confirmation; in the West, this faculty may be conferred on a Priest only in
exceptional circumstances.
2
In the 1962 Roman Pontifical, now back in use since the Ecclesia Dei Indult of
1988, the words are “I sign thee with the sign of the Cross, and I confirm thee with
the chrism of salvation: in the name of the Father, and the Son and of the Holy
Spirit.”
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