Confirmation
Confirmation
Confirmation is the sacrament by which Catholics receive a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Through Confirmation, the Holy Spirit gives them the increased ability to practice their Catholic faith in every aspect of their lives and to witness to Christ in every situation. It helps the deepening and strengthening of the grace received at Baptism, a more intimate relationship with Jesus Christ and a closer bond with the Catholic Church. With the reception of Confirmation, a faithful is granted the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are wisdom, knowledge, right judgement, understanding, courage, piety, and fear of the Lord.
The Holy Spirit also enables the Christian to be transformed after the manner of Jesus Christ. This transforming effect is termed by the apostle Paul as the ‘Fruit of the Spirit’. It is the Holy Spirit that effects nine-fold attributes in the believer in whom Christ dwells. They are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22).
We can display this fruit only when we have Christ living in us. To have Christ living in us we need to have a close relationship with Him through prayer, reading His word and meditating on it. The Holy Spirit also gives us the ability to take a greater and more mature role in the Church's mission of living the Christian faith daily and witnessing to Christ everywhere.
Who Can Receive Confirmation? In the Roman Catholic Church, Confirmation is usually administered to people who have received the First Holy Communion and are ready to take on a more adult role in the Church. These candidates for Confirmation, must now accept the Catholic faith as their own and make a commitment to live it out with God's help.
In St John’s Church, Palam the conferral of the Sacrament of Confirmation takes place after Easter after the candidates go through a yearlong Faith Formation class. But often it depends on the availability of the Archbishop, since he is the proper Ordinary to confer the Sacrament.