Exiit qui seminat

This Saturday, April, 27th over 120 young people and adults from all 3 parishes in Vineland received the Sacrament of Confirmation from Bishop Sullivan at Sacred Heart Church, the mother church for the whole city. Confirmation can be, at times, a sacrament that we have difficulty in understanding. Confirmation can be akin to a sort of "Catholic graduation" since, for the most part, children are confirmed (or chrismated) while they're in the 8th grade. Other times, we can assume that Confirmation is the opportunity for children to accept the Catholic faith for their own, since the majority of children were baptized as infants when their parents and godparents spoke on their behalf. While well-intentioned, no one these reasons are truly accurate when it comes to why we confirm and what the sacrament of Confirmation really is. Theologically, the sacrament of Confirmation is supposed to be the 2nd of the sacraments of initiation, following soon after Baptism. Regardless of its timing and when it is celebrated in a person's life, Confirmation is the completes Baptismal grace and "confirms" the gif of faith. As the 1983 Code of Canon Law states, "The sacrament of confirmation strengthens the baptized and obliges them more firmly to be witnesses of Christ by word and deed and to spread and defend the faith. It imprints a character, enriches by the gif of the Holy Spirit the baptized continuing on the path of Christian initiation, and binds them more perfectly to the Church." That strength comes from the gifs of the Holy Spirit (wisdom, understanding, right counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord). With these gifs and filled with the Holy Spirit, we are emboldened to go out and live out the Gospel. "The effect of this sacrament is that a Christian should boldly confess the name of Christ, since the holy Spirit is given in this sacrament for strengthening just as he was given to the apostles on the day of Pentecost" (Council of Florence). As we celebrate our "confirmati" (those who have been confirmed) let us continue to pray for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within their hearts, so now, fully initiated into the life of the Church, they might go out to all the world and proclaim the Good News!