Confirmation (adult)

“Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, who went down and prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for it had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.”
--- Acts 8:14-17
 

If you are looking for information about Youth (High School) Confirmation, please click here!

Like all the Sacraments, Confirmation is a moment of encounter with Jesus Christ. By receiving this Sacrament, we are joined more closely to Christ and are more fully conformed to Him.

The particular gift of Confirmation is the Gift of the Holy Spirit. It is not that we are without the Holy Spirit prior to Confirmation. In the Sacrament of Baptism, we become “temples of the Holy Spirit.” But in Confirmation, the Holy Spirit is given with a new fullness, especially to equip the Christian to carry on the work of Christ in the world.

The model for Confirmation is Pentecost. Jesus chose Twelve Apostles and commissioned them to carry on His work after His death and resurrection. Nonetheless, even after the Apostles had been thoroughly convinced that Jesus had risen from the dead, they remained ill equipped to carry on His work.

The situation was transformed by the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The Spirit was heard as a rushing wind and seen as tongues of fire. Once He had come upon the Apostles, they opened the doors, went out into Jerusalem and preached Jesus Christ with words that were miraculously understood by Jews from all over the world in their own languages.

From the beginning of the Church, the Apostles shared the gift of the Holy Spirit with those who had been baptized by the laying on of hands. This is the essence of the Sacrament of Confirmation to this day. And the Sacrament of Confirmation is given to equip Christians to share in the work of Christ and the Church to make disciples of all the nations.

If you are an adult parishioner who has not received the Sacrament of Confirmation please contact the parish office.