Christian maturity

I AM now in the process of talking with parents of the

students who will receive the sacrament of confirmation in October.

The idea is to explain and remind them of the nature and purpose of

the sacrament, and the many implications, both theoretical and

practical, that it brings about.

            By some twist of circumstances, this sacrament happens to

be one of the less known and appreciated sacraments. Even in my case,

I received it when I was already about 20 because it was not felt to

be that necessary in the province where I grew up and had my early

education.

            But it’s actually a very important sacrament, for it gives

us the gift of spiritual strength and perfection that go into what we

may call our Christian maturity or the fullness of Christian life.

            Let’s remember what St. Paul once said about Christ

providing us with apostles, prophets, evangelists, and obviously many

other gifts too so that we can be “a perfect man, unto the measure of

the age of the fullness of Christ, that henceforth we be no more

children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of

doctrine…” (Eph 4,13-14)

            God is never sparing in sharing what he has with us who

are his image and likeness and his adopted children. The sacrament of

confirmation is a gift that together with the other sacraments

perfects us and brings us to the possibility of living the fullness of

Christian life while still here on earth.

            It gives us nothing less than the Holy Spirit, the very

love of God. The Holy Spirit is now our sanctifier, who nourishes our

faith, hope and charity. He gives us his 7-fold gifts of wisdom,

understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the

Lord.

            Besides, the Holy Spirit gives us his perfections or the

fruits of charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,

generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control and

chastity.

            With these, the Holy Spirit who is given to us in

confirmation just like in Pentecost, roots us more deeply in divine

sonship, and binds us more firmly to Christ and to the Church. He

gives us strength to witness to the Christian faith, (cfr Catechism

268) It imprints an indelible character that resembles us more closely

to Christ.

            We need to be aware that this sacrament is a supernatural

gift. As such we need to receive it with profound gratitude and to try

to make use of it as best as we could. That is why we need to know

more and more about it and to live by its law and purpose.

            Just like the many sophisticated gadgets that may be

gifted to us, whose manual and instructions we need to study to make

them useful, we also need to study well the nature and purpose of the

sacrament of confirmation to make it effective in our lives.

            As a supernatural gift, it transcends without rejecting

our human conditions. Usually administered when we reach the age of

discretion or at 12 years of age, it can be given to us even when we

have not yet achieved our full human maturity in terms of our

emotional or intellectual development.

            The grace of God and our correspondence to it through

faith and piety can somehow make the effects of the sacrament

manifested in our life. One psalm beautifully expresses this truth

when it says, “I have had understanding above the aged, because I have

sought your commandments.” (Ps 119,100)

            It is simply by following the commandments of God that

would lead us to love God and others, that we can attain our Christian

maturity. Christian maturity does not depend so much on our temporal

age or on earthly erudition. It’s a matter of grace which God actually

gives us in abundance.

            We need to see to it therefore that we are trying our best

to live by the grace of God. In practical terms this means we need to

study and assimilate his teaching and commandments, develop the

virtues, have recourse to the sacraments, learn to pray and offer

sacrifices.

            We need to learn to think in terms of our faith, and not

just in terms of our sheer reasoning, feelings and other means of

human estimations of things. Our attitude and outlook should be

supernatural, based on our faith and love of God.

            This is how the greatness of God himself can sit well in

the midst of our human limitations and errors. Given our increasingly

challenging times, we need to spread more widely the good news about

the sacrament of confirmation.