Sixth Sunday of Easter
When it came to my own reception of the Sacrament of Confirmation in 1998 as an eighth grader, I think I had a fairly faulty understanding of what the sacrament really meant. I remember reading facts about the gifts of the Holy Spirit (not a bad start) and a book that had examples of the saints who lived out the faith in more modern times (also, not a bad thing). But I seem to remember some sense that Confirmation meant that I was choosing to still be Catholic and become an adult in the faith.
In my experience as a priest, I know that this mentality continues to this day. Not as much here at St. Matthew, but in previous parishes young men and women would tell me, when asked what Confirmation meant, that they were choosing to be Catholic for themselves, since their parents had made the decision for them when they were baptized, and they were becoming adults in the faith. But the choice to be Catholic happens when one is baptized. Certainly, one can choose (sadly) to walk away from the faith after baptism, but that person will always be Catholic. And an eighth grader, or a young high school student is far from being an adult, though they certainly can make more adult decisions than a younger child.
But what is that sacrament about? Why have it? All sacraments draw us ever closer into the inner life of the Blessed Trinity. They bring us closer into the love that is shared between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. All sacraments make the Blessed Trinity present to us to remind us that God has not left us orphans, but dwells within us. Through Confirmation, we grow in our union with Christ, who gives us union with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
But, even while we grow in the life of the entire Blessed Trinity through the Sacrament of Confirmation, we receive a seal, a character, an indelible mark that gives us access to the Holy Spirit as our Advocate. While we don’t use the term advocate as much anymore, the understanding of an advocate, or a Paraclete (the Greek word) is a defense attorney who pleads our cause. The Holy Spirit pleads our cause before the Father, and defends us against the accuser, the devil, who seeks to separate us from the Father.
But the advocate also gives us strength and defends us as we encounter other humans who either are curious about the Gospel or antithetical to it. The Holy Spirit gives us words to explain our faith. He helps us to “be ready to give an explanation…for a reason for your hope,” as St. Peter said in our second reading. The Holy Spirit strengthens us to share why following Christ makes a difference. That is why, in the old rite, Confirmation was described as making young men and women “soldiers of Christ.” They were to win the world for Christ by word and deed, empowered by the Holy Spirit.
But St. Peter also helps us understand that the Holy Spirit gives us the grace to suffer for the Gospel. Sometimes following Christ means that we will suffer. We might lose out on promotions, or not be able to engage in certain social events, or maybe not play on all the sports teams we want to, or maybe even lose friends or family because they don’t accept our Christianity in general or our Catholicism in particular. In addition to physical suffering, those situation are also suffering for the Gospel, and the Holy Spirit gives us courage “to suffer for doing good, if that be the will of God.”
God gives us the sacraments to give us more of His life, His grace, to observe the commandments which Christ gave us, as the sign that we truly love God. In particular, God gives us the Sacrament of Confirmation to strengthen what we received in Holy Baptism. May God stir up the flames of the Holy Spirit in our hearts to witness, by word and deed, to the joy of the Gospel, and the true love of the Trinity, into which God drew us first through Holy Baptism, and into which we are called to delve more deeply each day of our life.
