Have you already been baptized in the Catholic Church and desire to receive God's strength to become the person He's called you to be? Confirmation might be for you! God's got a plan for you and wants to fill you up with love, power, and life through the Holy Spirit.
Receiving these gifts takes preparation, like preparing the soil before planting seeds. However, we recognize you're an adult. You've got a unique history and a busy lifestyle. We'll work together to plan out this next step, and even after the seed gets planted, help you keep growing, too.
Find Strength. The word Confirmation means strengthening.
Why does a Christian need strengthened? Because the world needs the peace, hope, and healing that only Christ can bring. Every Christian is mandated to go out into the world as a missionary disciple, bringing the presence of Christ into every situation, every relationship, every day. That's tough. We can't do it on our own, so God provides. Through the Sacrament of Confirmation God perfects or completes the grace given in Baptism, giving the Christian a special power to go out and live as a self-sacrificing, interceding, foot-washing, fearless missionary.
Who confirms or strengthens? God strengthens the individual. Therefore, Confirmation is received, not made or accomplished. Primary is God’s action which gives supernatural strength; the human action is to receive it.
Confirmation is a Sacrament, a visible sign (laying on of hands & anointing with oil) through which invisible grace is given to the human person. Jesus instituted the seven Sacraments. Those who receive the Sacrament of Confirmation are “more perfectly bound to the Church and are enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, #1285).
Confirmation is a beginning. Confirmation is one of the Sacraments of Initiation, along with Baptism and Eucharist. Initiation is not graduation; it is a beginning. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the confirmed are given strength to live as Soldiers for Christ—spreading the Gospel, building up the church in love and service, and living out the way of life to which God calls them.
Confirmation in the Bible: Jesus promises to send his Spirit to his followers (Lk 12:12; Jn 3:5-8; 7:37-39; 16:7-15), fulfilling what was prophesied in the Old Testament (Ezek 36:25-27, Joel 3:1-2). This was fulfilled after Jesus’ Ascension (Acts 2:1-4; 8:14-17; 2 Cor 1:21-22). The Spirit received in Confirmation is the same “Spirit of the Lord” that filled Jesus, the long-awaited Messiah, giving wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord (Is 11:2). These Gifts of the Spirit should produce love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, and self-control (Gal 5:22), known as the Fruits of the Spirit, in the life of a Catholic.