Confirmation is is one of the three Sacraments of Christian Initiation. The other two sacraments of Christian Initiation are Baptism and the Eucharist. Confirmation completes the grace of Baptism through the outpouring of the gifts of Holy Spirit. Confirmation is a rite of initiation of not only Catholicism, but other Christian denominations too. Confirmation 's roots can be found in the New Testament, it is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and its practice has not derived much from the Early Church practice. The origin of the Sacrament of Confirmation is found in the New Testament. There are many different books and chapters in the New Testament that talk about Confirmation. For example, in the Gospel of John 14:15-26, Jesus talks to …show more content…
The Catechism states that Confirmation brings an increase and deepening of baptismal grace. Confirmation roots us more deeply in the divine feeling which makes us call, "Abba" or "Father." Confirmation also unites us more firmly to Jesus, it increases the gifts of the Holy Spirit in people, and it renders a person 's bond with the Church more perfect. Furthermore, the sacrament of Confirmation gives a person special strength of the Holy Spirit that allows a person to preach about the Good News and to defend his faith. A person with the power of the Holy Spirit can confess to the name of Jesus and the person will never be ashamed of the Cross. Confirmation can only be received once, just like Baptism because it leaves a mark that can never be erased (Catholic Church 1302-1305). In the Latin Church only the bishop can perform the Sacrament of Confirmation. Having bishops be the only ones able to perform the sacrament highlights the connection of Confirmation with its apostolic origins. The bishop is a sign that the Church is unified, universal, and apostolic. Every bishop has been ordained by another bishop who was also ordained by a bishop. The line of the bishops can be traced back to the Apostles which is called Apostolic Succession. It is handed down through the laying of the hands in Holy Orders. Confirmation deepens a person 's grace from the outpouring of …show more content…
Many people do not understand the meaning of Confirmation and the reason why a person might want to receive it. Baptism and Eucharist are more important than Confirmation and if a person had a choice whether to receive those two sacraments or Confirmation, many people would choose to be baptized and to receive the Eucharist. Baptism grants a person membership into the Church and the Eucharist nourishes a person with the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Confirmation is just a last step that not every person necessarily needs to receive in his life. Furthermore, many high schoolers do not want to receive Confirmation because they do not want to attend the classes. The requirements to receive Confirmation are ridiculous. Students are only allowed to miss about two to three meetings a year and they are never allowed to miss a retreat. Students have to go to classes once a week for two years, even if they go to a Catholic school. If a person misses just one retreat and he is a month away from being confirmed, the people who run the classes can say that the student will have to repeat the year of classes. This is baffling because why does it matter if he misses one thing if he went to all the others. There are multiple people that are not able to attend these classes because most students have busy schedules. So even if a person with a busy schedule wants to receive Confirmation, they have to
In the Catholic faith, there are seven sacraments. They are baptism, reconciliation, eucharist, confirmation, matrimony, holy orders and anointing of the sick. This year, the majority of the grade seven students are receiving the sacrament of confirmation. For confirmation, we have been asked to choose a Saint. For my Saint, I chose someone that I look up to. I chose Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton.
I have participated in various groups through my adolescence and young adulthood, several of which had defined rights of passage. The first group I will address is my religion; I am an Episcopalian, and when I was 13 I became confirmed. In the Episcopal church there is a tendency to baptize children soon after birth, so it is a passive acceptance of religion. Once one has matured they have the option to choose the religious sacrament of confirmation. According to the Episcopal Church webpage, confirmation is defined as a mature commitment to Christ, and is affirmed by the bishop of the diocese. Confirmation is also described as the rite of seeking a theology. Therefor, it is considered as a right of passage of young adults throughout the Episcopal
Through the close study of two of the aspects shown in the diagram, their contributions allow Christianity to be considered a living religious tradition. The significant contributions of Pope John XXIII, during both his papal and Pre-papal life have had everlasting effects on not only Catholicism, but Christianity as a whole and lead to the sense of Christianity being a living religious tradition. His works include two Papal encyclicals, Mater et Magistra and Pacem in Terris, along with his work being Apostolic Delegate of Greece and Turkey. Moreover, The significant practice of Baptism has further contributed to Christian being considered a living religious tradition as it accounts for the premise of most Christian beliefs to be initiated, especially in terms of salvation and affirming the beliefs in the trinity and following the teachings of Jesus Christ.
In the religious world, a rite of passage is a sign of maturity and progress into a person’s desired faith. In the Christian religion, Confirmation, is the sacrament which shows that the person being confirmed is reaffirming his or her baptismal promises. In comparison, the Jewish faith has either a Bar Mitzvah (male) or Bat Mitzvah (female), which officially marks their entrance into becoming a mature member of the Jewish faith. Both of these celebrations carry with them a large amount of responsibility, because they are both a sign of maturity and growth in their respected faith. Both Confirmation and Bat/Bar Mitzvahs have differences distinct in their respected religion, as well as shared similarities between the two of them.
On one hand, baptism is a sacrament that any human must have because it is a lifelong process of salvation and it is necessary for eternal salvation. Since Adam’s sin, all human is born spiritually death; therefore a newborn in spirit is necessary, in order for humans to have “spiritual eyes open” It will keep the person closest to God, because “open eyes” helps to discriminate good from bad during the person journey in life. Baptism present two parts, an outward and sensible sign, and an inward and spiritual grace implied, but baptism is not sanctification by itself. Furthermore, baptism is the Church’s external affirmation and proclamation of prevenient grace; it is an initiation and incorporation into Christ Holy church. During baptism church as a whole play an active role; first, by welcoming the new member, then after baptism, the church provides the nurture that makes possible a comprehensive and lifelong process of growing in grace. On the other hand Communion celebration by using bread and wine is a remembrance of Jesus death, and resurrection and the waiting until He comes again. The way in which bread and wine is converting into Jesus’s body and blood is a mystery. When during celebration Jesus says “for you” it connotes expiating and sacrifice meaning to liberates “us” sinners. Participate in communion
There are seven sacraments but the Mass is the most important one of them all. The sacrament of Mass gives priest strength to spiritual growth in their vocation, not only for priest but for all people. The Mass was instituted at the last super by Jesus; He looked at the cross and tells what was going to happen to Him the following day, in the Mass we look back to it too. The Eucharist in
One of the most controversial topics in Christianity is sacraments. Scholars define the word “sacrament” many ways. A common definition is that a sacrament is an outward, visible sign of an inward, spiritual reality. It would be inaccurate to say that a sacrament is just a sign. It should be viewed as an encounter or something that brings something else about. In other words, a sacrament is something that points beyond itself and has meaning in a spiritual sense. Sacraments compile a range of imagery which all have deeper meanings than meet the eye. It is not just a ritual enactment of something else going on; it has objective order.
Like discussed earlier Catholics and Christians believe that the Conformation, and Baptism matures the soul and helps people reach adulthood. Baptism usually occurs at a very young age but is not bound by a person’s age. In Baptism, water is used to purify and symbolizes the washing away of sins. It is also described a person being born again because the cleansing of a person with water symbolizes the death and rebirth of that person. Also, when a person becomes baptized they accept God and have faith in God and all his teachings. Confirmation is like a continuation of Baptism because the faith in God of that person is confirmed. Along with confirming one’s faith confirmation gives a person more responsibilities. A large part of bei...
Roman Catholics believe that through the sacrament of confession the Lord will forgive the sins that they have committed. The Priest acts as an intercessor for Christ; he hears the sins that the Catholic has committed then with the power he receives from Jesus is able to forgive the sins (catholic.org). This works when the Priest gives absolution to the repenting soul, the Catholic must truly be sorry for the sins he has committed otherwise Christ will not forgive them (jesuschristsavior.net). The Priest then makes the sign of the cross with the candidate saying, “I absolve you from your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (jesuschristsavior.net). The Priest will then give a penance to the candidate. The Penance is usually some type of prayer, fasting, or nice act to another person to truly show that you feel sorrow for the sins committed
Confirmation deepens and strengthens the gifts of the Holy Spirit that we receive through Baptism. Confirmation is always celebrated by the Bishop of the diocese, this is because Bishops are the successors of Christ’s apostles and have received the fullest form of the sacrament of Holy Orders so this process began the practice of confirmation so their successors could continue it as local leaders of the Catholic Church. By celebrating the sacrament of Confirmation, they show that one of the purposes of Confirmation is to join its recipients more closely to the Church and to Christ. The most important effect of Confirmation is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in to the recipient. Just as the Baptism did, Confirmation gives an ineradicable character to its recipients- this is why you can only be confirmed once. ‘Ineradicable’ means “unable to be removed” the character given at Confirmation marks recipients permanently and spiritually as people of Christ. Your role changes once you receive Confirmation, your role is strengthened in the Spirit to the fulfill one of the following roles: priests who intercede with prayer, prophets who are unafraid to stand up and speak freely for God or kings who are nothing less than the children of God. The Bible states “Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samar’ia had received the word of God, they sent to them
The doctrine of the church is ecclesiology, which comes from the greek word church - human beings who are like Christ. This doctrine is a doctrine for the universal church. We sometimes enter a singular way of talking about our culture when the bible speaks in plurality. Ecclesiology gives us the basis of our belief and marks of the church which gives us clarity of what it means to be “one holy catholic and apostolic.” The church bears four marks: Unity, Holiness, Catholicity, and Apostolicity. These four marks are the truth about the church. We must act in Unity because the church is one, 1 Corinthians 12:12 say “Just as the body is one and as many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.” The Holiness is a inheritance given to us by Christ. However we can not achieve that alone. As we open ourselves to the Holy Spirit, He actualizes that for us. Catholicity is the universality and wholeness the church, making room for people to enter the body of Christ. Lastly is apostolicity which is about the authority and truth, and the authority of the apostles is in their eyewitness testimony of Jesus (2 Peter 1:16). The church teaches about the apostles truth that is true to the gospel of Jesus
Catholics consider the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, the Eucharist, reconciliation, anointing the sick, marriage and holy orders, gifts from God that allow them to receive his grace. It is referred to as a mystery, that is Gods plan for the redemption of the world through Jesus. The Sacrament of Reconciliation started at the time of Jesus Christ, who instituted all the sacraments to the apostles that they may pass them on, to his people so they are able to receive grace and mercy, he gave them the power to forgive sins in his name.
It is followed by years of catechesis before being completed late by Confirmation and the Eucharist, the summit of Christian initiation. Baptism is the Church 's way of celebrating and enacting the embrace of God and the promise of salvation. 'Peter replied, "Repent and be baptised..." ' (Acts 2: 38-39) Baptism happens not only to the individual, but also the wider Church. At the time of Christ it signified that the person being baptised became a follower of Christ and acquired a relationship with him. '... I (Paul) also baptised the household of Stephanas... ' (1 Corinthians 1:16) The rite is celebrated with the community present and actively participating. It is the community, who will journey with them throughout their
Christians must come to understand that in order to serve God and His people well, we need to know and live better my Catholic Faith. We must study and read about the Church’s teachings and traditions to appreciate them better, but we must also allow the Holy Spirit to guide us in our Christian lives. He will do it! God’s Spirit desires to form a close relationship with each and every one of us. Indeed, He is the Great Unknown Companion within us that we already received in our baptism to form us perfectly into God’s image and likeness. However, if in Baptism we receive the Spirit to bear Christ 's image, it 's equally true that in Confirmation we are sent by God in that same Spirit to bear true witness to Christ. With the Holy Spirit we are sent to share with others the wonders that God has done, and to share that God is alive and that God is love. Therefore, open your heart to the Holy Spirit’s presence and action in your life; always invite Him with desire, faith, and fervor to fill you completely; and pray to Him constantly for wisdom, strength, guidance, and courage. God will do it – yes, He will! God bless you
First and foremost, preachers should preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Both individuals and the body of the church as a whole experience Jesus Christ through the gospel and sacraments, in other words, persons are fed spiritually by the gospel, so the Good News of Jesus Christ should be evident in preaching. According to the Lutheran confessional text, The Augsburg Confession, in the Lutheran tradition, preaching is acknowledged as given by God as follows: