Saints LightWhat Does Confirmation Add?
Confirmation pours out the Holy Spirit on us as at Pentecost, completing our Baptism and strengthening us to live and speak for Christ. It is a gift, not a graduation.
What this lesson teaches
- Confirmation is our share in Pentecost: a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
- It deepens baptismal grace and gives strength to witness to Christ, and it is received only once.
- In the Latin Church the bishop usually confirms by anointing with chrism; Eastern Churches confirm infants right after Baptism.
- It is a gift of the Spirit, not a graduation or a ratification of Baptism.
Catechism paragraphs this lesson cites
- CCC 1285
- CCC 1290-1292
- CCC 1300
- CCC 1302-1305
- CCC 1308
CCC means the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Saints Light teaches it in its own words and never quotes it. Look up any paragraph in a printed copy or at vatican.va. See every lesson by paragraph in the Catechism index.
Scripture read in this lesson: Acts 8:14-17; Isaiah 11:2-3 (Isaias in Douay-Rheims).
A sample question from this lesson
What does the Catechism say Confirmation is NOT?
- A sacrament that leaves a permanent seal
- A deepening of the grace of Baptism
- A ratification of Baptism that depends on reaching adult age
- A special outpouring of the Holy Spirit
Show the answer
A ratification of Baptism that depends on reaching adult age. The lesson cites CCC 1308: Confirmation is a gift of the Spirit, not a graduation or a ratification that depends on adult age.
The lesson in the app has three questions, each with an explanation.
Words to know
- Sponsor
- A confirmed, practicing Catholic who presents the candidate and helps him live the faith, ideally one of his godparents.
- Gifts of the Holy Spirit
- Wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord, the seven gifts named from Isaiah 11.
More terms in the Catholic glossary. More passages in the Scripture index.
Read the full lesson in the app
"What Does Confirmation Add?" is lesson 3 of The Seven Sacraments. In Saints Light you get the whole teaching, the Scripture quoted in full, all three questions and a step to live it this week.
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- Which Path Is Yours? (Becoming Catholic, free)
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