1. The Sacrament of Confirmation
Grade 5, Unit 4

2. Lesson 1: Exploring the Sacrament of Confirmation with Sacred Art

3. Confirmation Is...
By the sacrament of Confirmation, the baptized are more perfectly bound to the Church and are enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit. Hence they are, as true witnesses of Christ, more strictly obliged to spread and defend by word and deed” – CCC 1285.
The Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, sent by the Father and the Son into the world to teach and guide the Church and to confirm in us all that has been revealed.

4. Lesson 2: The Sacrament of Confirmation in Salvation History

5. Anointing, Royal Priesthood, Holy Nation
In the Old Testament, Levitical priests and kings descended from David were anointed with holy oil as a sign of their status as a priest or king and of the task given to them according to their position.
Messiah means anointed one. All those who were anointed were messiahs. That means that the kings descended from David in the Jewish royal kingdom were messiahs because they were all anointed. This anointing gave the person an outpouring of God’s Spirit to empower him for the tasks given to him by God.

6. Anointing, Royal Priesthood, Holy Nation
God from the very beginning through the New Testament and even still today desires His people to be a royal priesthood anointed and consecrated as His Chosen People who will announce the praises of His saving work.
The Sacrament of Confirmation completes the work begun in us at our Baptism and sets us apart as this very royal priesthood proclaimed since the Old Testament.

7. Anointing, Royal Priesthood, Holy Nation
Read 1 Peter 2:9.
The anointing and outpouring of the Holy Spirit we receive in Confirmation is what makes us the “royal priesthood” and “holy nation” that God desired from the beginning. As Peter tells us, it is this anointing that empowers us to “announce the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.”

8. Confirmation Prefigured
Read Leviticus 8:6-13.
First, this passage describes how Moses anointed the first Levitical priests of the Old Testament: Aaron and his sons. Moses first washes Aaron and his sons with water as we are first cleansed by the water of Baptism. Then he anoints them with oil to complete the outpouring of God’s Spirit which we receive when we are anointed in Confirmation.
The Sacraments are prefigured in the Old Testament, which means that certain events and people are signs and symbols of the later sacrament. They foreshadow or foretell the acrament that will later be instituted by Jesus in the New Testament.

9. Jesus Instituted Confirmation
Read Acts 1:8.
in this passage from the book of Acts, Jesus is moments away from His Ascension into Heaven, and he is promising the Apostles of the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus said, “you will be my witnesses.” Jesus is promising that when they receive the Holy Spirit, they will be empowered to go out and proclaim all that they have seen and been a part of while they were with Jesus, the Good News of salvation.

10. Jesus Instituted Confirmation
Not only were the Apostles empowered by the Holy Spirit to baptize others and to make them members of the Church, but they very soon went out from Jerusalem and gave to others the very same gift of the Holy Spirit that they had received.
This is the basic foundation for the Sacrament of Confirmation. Jesus promised the gift of the Holy Spirit, which was received by the Apostles at Pentecost. From there, the Apostles followed Jesus’ command to make disciples of all the nations by baptizing them, and they bestowed upon them what they had received, the gift of the Holy Spirit, so that these new disciples could do as the Apostles did and proclaim Jesus as Lord.

11. Lesson 3: the Celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation

12. Confirmation: God Seals Us As His Own
The Sacrament of Confirmation is a way in which the Father seals us with the Holy Spirit, or seals us as His. He also consecrates us (sets us apart), commissions us, enrolls us in His service forever, and promises His help in trials (CCC 1296).

13. Confirmation: Real Spiritual Maturity
Jesus instituted the Sacraments in a way that follows the natural course of our lives. The Sacraments of Initiation follow the ways we grow up to be adults, and Confirmation is sometimes called the “Sacrament of Christian maturity.”
Very early in the life of the Church, the age of Confirmation was at “the age of discretion,” around seven years old. Today the age of Confirmation varies from place to place but is typically celebrated in the early to late teenage years.

14. Confirmation: Real Spiritual Maturity
It is important not to confuse maturity with the Sacrament itself, which comes from God’s grace. In other words, we don’t “activate” the Sacrament by becoming more mature or reaching a certain age.
It is a common misconception that Confirmation is a sort of “graduation” ceremony from the Church whereby the person being confirmed is now an adult.
In fact, spiritual maturity is not the same thing as physical maturity. There have been many examples of young people throughout the centuries who have fought for Christ with the strength of the Holy Spirit and even given their lives for Him.

15. Lesson 4: The Effects of the Sacrament of Confirmation

16. Armor of God Read Ephesians 6:11-17.
“Father send your Holy Spirit on us and on this oil which is before us and consecrate it, so that it may be for all who are anointed and marked with it holy myron, priestly myron, royal myron, anointing with gladness, clothing with light, a cloak of salvation, a spiritual gift, the sancti cation of souls and bodies, imperishable happiness, the indelible seal, a buckler of faith, and a fearsome helmet against all the works of the adversary”(CCC 1297). -Epiclesis for the consecration of the sacred chrism (myron) from the Liturgy of Antioch.

17. Armor of God
The words from the liturgy of the blessing of chrism are similar to the words of St. Paul in Ephesians. Both view the Sacrament of Confirmation as being clothed in a sort of armor of God preparing for battle to spread the good news of salvation in truth, righteousness, gladness, and strengthened by the Holy Spirit.

18. Armor of God
The main effect of the Sacrament of Confirmation is the special outpouring of the Holy Spirit that was also given to the Apostles on the day of Pentecost. This outpouring of the Holy Spirit clothes us in the armor of God, giving us a “special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and action as true witnesses of Christ, to confess the name of Christ boldly, and never to be ashamed of the Cross” (CCC 1303).

19. Gifts of the Holy Spirit
The prayer of the bishop after the laying on of hands during the celebration of Confirmation:
“Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who brought these your servants to new birth by water and the Holy Spirit, freeing them from sin: send upon them, O Lord, the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete; give them the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and piety; fill them with the spirit of the fear of the Lord. Through Christ our Lord.”

20. Gifts of the Holy Spirit
The outpouring of the Holy Spirit received in Confirmation also increases the gifts of the Holy Spirit in us. We received the gifts of the Holy Spirit first at our Baptism. In the Sacrament of Confirmation we receive a greater portion of, or an increase in, these same gifts:
Wisdom
Understanding
Right Judgement/Counsel
Courage/Strength
Knowledge
Reverence
Wonder and Awe/Fear of the Lord

21. Lesson 5: Living the Sacrament of Confirmation

22. Responsibility of a Mature Faith
The fullness of the Holy Spirit that we are given in Confirmation brings with it the responsibility of a mature faith.
When we are given an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Confirmation, we are tasked with ushering in the Kingdom of God, a kingdom of justice, love, and peace. We must live the gifts of the Holy Spirit bestowed on us and pursue the moral life in Christ in order to build up the Church here on Earth.

23. Responsibility of a Mature Faith
Sin is more than just the individual, personal sins that we commit. When we participate directly and voluntarily in others’ sin, approve of or praise others’ sin, do not stop others’ sin when we are able to, or protect others who have committed sin from the consequences of their sin, we are cooperating in sin.
Sin builds upon sin, like building blocks. Cooperation in sin combined with our personal sins can lead to the creation of “structures of sin.” Structures of sin are “social situations and institutions that are contrary to the divine goodness” (CCC 1869).

24. Responsibility of a Mature Faith
“He who believes in Christ becomes a son or daughter of God. This filial adoption transforms him by giving him the ability to follow the example of Christ. It makes him capable of acting rightly and doing good. In union with his Savior, the disciple attains the perfection of charity which is holiness. Having matured in grace, the moral life blossoms into eternal life in the glory of heaven” -CCC 1709.
In other words, we are given the ability and the responsibility to follow Jesus’ example and live morally in the pursuit of holiness. This is how we begin to combat the structures of sin in our world.

25. Responsibility of a Mature Faith
“The dignity of the human person requires the pursuit of the common good. Everyone should be concerned to create and support institutions that improve the conditions of human life.” – CCC 1926
The dignity of the human person refers to the worth or value of a person. All human persons, male or female, regardless of their state in life, are created with equal dignity because they are made in the image and likeness of God.

26. Responsibility of a Mature Faith
This Catechism reference tell us that in order to protect the dignity of the human person, it is necessary to pursue of the common good, in accordance with teachings of Jesus and His Church.
All people must use the gifts and talents given to them, as strengthened by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit received in the Sacraments, particularly in Baptism and Con rmation to create and support institutions that improve the conditions of human life. We have a responsibility as Christians given the fullness of the gifts of the Holy Spirit to use them protect the dignity of all people.