Homily What’s a confirmation?
Next Sunday Bishop Garry will be here to confirm 4 marvellous candidates and then we will retire off to the hall for a yummy ‘Bring and share’ lunch.
Confirmation is not something that happens every day, so I thought I would offer up a few reflections about the sacrament before next week.
Confirmation is one of our seven sacraments.
In no particular order, they are baptism, ordination, confirmation, marriage, eucharist, anointing for healing and reconciliation.
I want to begin in what might seem to be an unusual day and place.
Oil of Chrism
The day is Holy Monday, the Monday before Good Friday and the place is our Cathedral. On this day at that place, the clergy of the diocese gather to renew their ordination vows and the holy oils are blessed.
There are three oils. First the oil of the infirm for those who are not feeling well; physically, emotionally psychologically or in other ways you care to mention. This healing oil covers the lot.
The oil of catechumens is for those about to be baptised.
The oil of Chrism is used at ordination and also at Confirmations and coincidentally for the anointing of Kings and Queens.
So the oil that is blessed at our cathedral on Holy Monday by the Bishop is the very same oil that will be used on our confirmation candidates next week in Hamilton.
So what’s so special about this Chrism oil? Chrism is a mixture of oil and fragrance. The oil is a sign of anointing, joy, healing, cleansing, beauty and strength. Read your bible carefully and you’ll discover that oil gets mentioned frequently and always in a positive way. It symbolises the anointing of the Holy Spirit and brings about this spiritual anointing. The fragrance or perfume we add, symbolises the sweetness of Christ, which must always permeate our lives. If you like others will come to know we are Christians simply by the fragrance of Christ’s love that flows from us as a result of Confirmation.
Laying on of Hands
There is another outward symbol or sign to watch out for next week and that is the laying on of hands by the Bishop. So the Bishop puts his hand on each candidate’s head.
This action is a sign of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It’s a bestowing of this grace from person to person; from the Bishop acting in the Person of Christ to the one receiving this full outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
The word ‘confirmation’ can be a little bit misleading.
Confirmation is not so much about the person confirming their choice to follow the Master, it’s about God the Holy Spirit confirming the person. It’s much more something that God does to you and your eternal soul than something you do for God or even yourself.
And this inward “God confirming the candidate” bit is something we can’t physically see or hear. Confirmation imparts an invisible spiritual character, or seal, upon the one receiving this Sacrament. The flash church phrase is “indelible mark.” Though this mark or seal is not visible, it is symbolised by the anointing with the chrism upon the forehead with the sign of the Cross. During this anointing, the bishop says, “ Name ….Be sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit.”
The candidates also affirm the faith of the Church in the words of the creed, they affirm their turning to Christ and the rejection of all that is evil.
Confirmation is a wondrous Gift that was promised in the Old Testament, reaffirmed by Jesus, and fulfilled after Jesus’ Resurrection.
The fact that God gave us this Sacrament is His way of demonstrating to us that He wants all of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit alive within each of us. It is God reaching out to us. We use outward physical signs to show us that something inward and magnificent is actually really happening. Walking out of the Church, the candidates are not quite the same as when they arrived, just as surely as bread and wine we receive are changed or a happy couple become husband and wife
But what about the rest of us who are not being confirmed? We also have some words to say in the order of service.
With much gusto, we join with the Bishop in praying this prayer.
Defend, O Lord, these your servants with your heavenly grace,
that they may continue yours forever,
and daily increase in your Holy Spirit more and more
until they come to your everlasting kingdom. Amen.
Our responsibility and joyous vocation is to support, encourage, watch over and pray for our brothers and sisters in faith. Not just on the day and over luncheon with the Bishop, but every day into the future. God has called them by name and made them His own. This is a cause of whopping celebration for the whole Christian community.
A Final prayer to watch out for next week.
Almighty and everliving God,
you have given your servants
new birth by water and the Spirit,
and have forgiven them their sins.
Strengthen them, we pray, with the Holy Spirit
that they may grow in grace.
Increase in them the spirit of wisdom
and understanding,
the spirit of discernment and inner strength,
the spirit of knowledge and true godliness,
and fill them with wonder and awe at your presence,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen