Confirmation, or chrismation, is the sacrament of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ was conceived and born of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit. At his baptism in the Jordan the Holy Spirit was visibly given to him and ‘anointed’ him as the Messiah. He bore witness to himself: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me... He has sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4, 18). The Gospel records that in his public ministry he spoke and acted filled with the Holy Spirit. To his disciples too Jesus promised the Holy Spirit: the Spirit of truth who would lead them into the fullness of truth, the Spirit of power in whom they would bear witness to him, and the Spirit who consoles and defends. The disciples received the promised gift of the Spirit at the first Pentecost and at once handed that gift on to all Christians by the laying on of hands. In this way the event of Pentecost is renewed in the Church in every age: the Holy Spirit strengthens the hearts of Jesus’s disciples in faith, in hope, in love and in witness.
Confirmation continues and completes the consecration that began at Baptism. For this reason adults who are baptised receive confirmation (chrismation) immediately after their baptism, and the celebration is completed with the Eucharist: these are the three foundational sacraments, which bring a person fully into the Church and into her gifts, fill him with joy within and make him able to live by faith. That is why they are called the ‘sacraments of entry into Christianity’ or the ‘sacraments of initiation’. In the sacrament of Confirmation (chrismation) we receive in a special way the gift of the Holy Spirit, who fills us with his light and by his power ‘confirms’ us, that is, strengthens us and establishes us in faith and in love. What the Holy Spirit gives us in a mysterious way and works within us through the sacrament of Confirmation may be put briefly like this:
The Holy Spirit perfects and completes in us the inward likeness to Christ (our ‘conformity’ to Christ) that is given us at Baptism; through Confirmation the baptised person is joined to the Church more fully and more personally (he is more fully ‘brought into’ the mystery of Christ’s Body and becomes more completely a member of God’s people). The confirmed person is thus better able, and more bound, to share in the mission of the Church and to take up offices and responsibilities within her.
WHO MAY BE A SPONSOR AT CONFIRMATION (CHRISMATION)
a Catholic who has completed 16 years of age;
baptised, admitted to Holy Communion and confirmed (chrismated);
a sponsor may not be someone who is only civilly married: he or she must also be married in church (and confirmed);
a sponsor may not be someone who is divorced and civilly remarried, or who lives in a union outside marriage;
a sponsor may not be someone living together unmarried (a young man and a young woman, for example) until they have entered into the sacrament of holy matrimony;
a sponsor should live in accordance with the Catholic faith and the teaching of the Church;
the father and the mother cannot be sponsors for their own child;
If the sponsors are not from our parish, they must bring a certificate from their own parish priest in order to act as sponsors.