GodsGrace
CF Ambassador
- Dec 26, 2015
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When a Catholic teen reaches the age of about 13 or 14, he receives the sacrament of Confirmation.
This is another of the 7 sacraments, which are:
baptism
confirmation
communion
holy orders
matrimony
reconciliation
annointing of the sick
A sacrament is a visible way for God to show His love for us and to give visible grace to the members of His church.
By church, here, I don't mean the Body of Christ because everyone can receive a sacrament, or at least, some of them.
A person thus receives confirmation to be enabled to follow Jesus in their life.
They are blessed with holy oil, a mark or seal of the Holy Spirit which marks the person as belonging to God.
In John 6:27 Jesus states that He has received the seal of approval from the Father.
The Bishop of the parish church extends his hands over the confirmands signifying the gift of the Holy Spirit,
this gesture was started by Jesus. The Bishop asks God to send the Holy Spirit to be their helper and guide.
This sacrament would be in keeping with Jesus' teaching that He was going away so that the Holy Spirit could come to dwell among believers.
The following might be interesting to some:
After the Fourth Lateran Council, Communion, which continued to be given only after confirmation, was to be administered only on reaching the age of reason. Some time after the 13th century, the age of confirmation and Communion began to be delayed further, from seven, to twelve and to fifteen.[19] In the 18th c. in France the sequence of sacraments of initiation was changed. Bishops started to impart confirmation only after the first Eucharistic communion. The reason was no longer the busy calendar of the bishop, but the bishop's will to give adequate instruction to the youth. The practice lasted until Pope Leo XIII in 1897 asked to restore the primary order and to celebrate confirmation back at the age of reason. That didn't last long. In 1910 his successor, Pope Pius X, showing concern for the easy access to the Eucharist for children, in his Letter Quam Singulari lowered the age of first communion to seven. That was the origin of the widespread custom in parishes to organise the First Communion for children at 2nd grade and confirmation in middle or high school[clarification needed].[20]
The 1917 Code of Canon Law, while recommending that confirmation be delayed until about seven years of age, allowed it be given at an earlier age.[21] Only on 30 June 1932 was official permission given to change the traditional order of the three sacraments of Christian initiation: the Sacred Congregation for the Sacraments then allowed, where necessary, that confirmation be administered after first Holy Communion. This novelty, originally seen as exceptional, became more and more the accepted practice. Thus, in the mid-20th century, confirmation began to be seen as an occasion for professing personal commitment to the faith on the part of someone approaching adulthood.
However, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1308) warns: "Although Confirmation is sometimes called the 'sacrament of Christian maturity,' we must not confuse adult faith with the adult age of natural growth, nor forget that the baptismal grace is a grace of free, unmerited election and does not need 'ratification' to become effective."[22]
On the canonical age for confirmation in the Latin or Western Catholic Church, the present (1983) Code of Canon Law, which maintains unaltered the rule in the 1917 Code, lays down that the sacrament is to be conferred on the faithful at about the age of discretion (generally taken to be about 7), unless the Episcopal Conference has decided on a different age, or there is a danger of death or, in the judgement of the minister, a grave reason suggests otherwise (canon 891 of the Code of Canon Law). The Code prescribes the age of discretion also for the sacraments of Reconciliation[23] and first Holy Communion.[24]
In some places the setting of a later age, e.g. mid-teens in the United States, early teens in Ireland and Britain, has been abandoned in recent decades in favor of restoring the traditional order of the three sacraments of Christian initiation,[25][26][27][20] Even where a later age has been set, a bishop may not refuse to confer the sacrament on younger children who request it, provided they are baptized, have the use of reason, are suitably instructed and are properly disposed and able to renew the baptismal promises.
This is another of the 7 sacraments, which are:
baptism
confirmation
communion
holy orders
matrimony
reconciliation
annointing of the sick
A sacrament is a visible way for God to show His love for us and to give visible grace to the members of His church.
By church, here, I don't mean the Body of Christ because everyone can receive a sacrament, or at least, some of them.
A person thus receives confirmation to be enabled to follow Jesus in their life.
They are blessed with holy oil, a mark or seal of the Holy Spirit which marks the person as belonging to God.
In John 6:27 Jesus states that He has received the seal of approval from the Father.
The Bishop of the parish church extends his hands over the confirmands signifying the gift of the Holy Spirit,
this gesture was started by Jesus. The Bishop asks God to send the Holy Spirit to be their helper and guide.
This sacrament would be in keeping with Jesus' teaching that He was going away so that the Holy Spirit could come to dwell among believers.
The following might be interesting to some:
Rite of Confirmation in the West[edit]
The main reason why the West separated the sacrament of confirmation from that of baptism was to re-establish direct contact between the person being initiated with the bishops. In the Early Church, the bishop administered all three sacraments of initiation (baptism, confirmation and Eucharist), assisted by the priests and deacons and, where they existed, by deaconesses for women's baptism. The post-baptismal Chrismation in particular was reserved to the bishop. When adults no longer formed the majority of those being baptized, this Chrismation was delayed until the bishop could confer it. Until the 12th century, priests often continued to confer confirmation before giving Communion to very young children.[18]After the Fourth Lateran Council, Communion, which continued to be given only after confirmation, was to be administered only on reaching the age of reason. Some time after the 13th century, the age of confirmation and Communion began to be delayed further, from seven, to twelve and to fifteen.[19] In the 18th c. in France the sequence of sacraments of initiation was changed. Bishops started to impart confirmation only after the first Eucharistic communion. The reason was no longer the busy calendar of the bishop, but the bishop's will to give adequate instruction to the youth. The practice lasted until Pope Leo XIII in 1897 asked to restore the primary order and to celebrate confirmation back at the age of reason. That didn't last long. In 1910 his successor, Pope Pius X, showing concern for the easy access to the Eucharist for children, in his Letter Quam Singulari lowered the age of first communion to seven. That was the origin of the widespread custom in parishes to organise the First Communion for children at 2nd grade and confirmation in middle or high school[clarification needed].[20]
The 1917 Code of Canon Law, while recommending that confirmation be delayed until about seven years of age, allowed it be given at an earlier age.[21] Only on 30 June 1932 was official permission given to change the traditional order of the three sacraments of Christian initiation: the Sacred Congregation for the Sacraments then allowed, where necessary, that confirmation be administered after first Holy Communion. This novelty, originally seen as exceptional, became more and more the accepted practice. Thus, in the mid-20th century, confirmation began to be seen as an occasion for professing personal commitment to the faith on the part of someone approaching adulthood.
However, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1308) warns: "Although Confirmation is sometimes called the 'sacrament of Christian maturity,' we must not confuse adult faith with the adult age of natural growth, nor forget that the baptismal grace is a grace of free, unmerited election and does not need 'ratification' to become effective."[22]
On the canonical age for confirmation in the Latin or Western Catholic Church, the present (1983) Code of Canon Law, which maintains unaltered the rule in the 1917 Code, lays down that the sacrament is to be conferred on the faithful at about the age of discretion (generally taken to be about 7), unless the Episcopal Conference has decided on a different age, or there is a danger of death or, in the judgement of the minister, a grave reason suggests otherwise (canon 891 of the Code of Canon Law). The Code prescribes the age of discretion also for the sacraments of Reconciliation[23] and first Holy Communion.[24]
In some places the setting of a later age, e.g. mid-teens in the United States, early teens in Ireland and Britain, has been abandoned in recent decades in favor of restoring the traditional order of the three sacraments of Christian initiation,[25][26][27][20] Even where a later age has been set, a bishop may not refuse to confer the sacrament on younger children who request it, provided they are baptized, have the use of reason, are suitably instructed and are properly disposed and able to renew the baptismal promises.
