Pope Francis asks that Confirmation not become the sacrament of departure from the Church

Pope Francis asked that Confirmation not become the “sacrament of goodbye” or “departure” from the Church, but rather that it be the beginning of active participation guided by the action of the Holy Spirit.

At the beginning of his catechesis in the General Audience, read with some complication due to the strong sun that illuminates the Eternal City these days, the Holy Father explained that the “The sanctifying action of the Holy Spirit comes to us above all through two channels: the Word of God and the Sacraments.”

Specifically, the sacrament of Chrismation or Confirmation is one that “aims to visibly and charismatically communicate the Holy Spirit, with effects similar to those produced by the Apostles at Pentecost.”

According to the Pontiff, “the theme of the Holy Spirit as the ‘royal seal’ with which Christ marks his sheep is the basis of the doctrine of the ‘indelible character’ that this rite confers.”

As time went by, Pope Francis continued, “the rite of anointing took shape as a sacrament in its own right, assuming different forms and contents in the various eras and rites of the Church.”

In this sense, he read the definition given by the Italian Episcopal Conference: “Confirmation is for each faithful what Pentecost was for the entire Church. (…) It reinforces the baptismal incorporation into Christ and the Church and the consecration to the prophetic, royal and priestly mission. Communicate the abundance of the gifts of the Spirit (…). If, therefore, baptism is the sacrament of birth, confirmation is the sacrament of growth. For this reason it is also the sacrament of testimony, because it is closely linked to the maturity of Christian existence.”

The problem, he added, “is how to ensure that the sacrament of confirmation is not reduced, in practice, to an ‘extreme unction’, that is, to the sacrament of ‘exit’ from the Church. It is said that it is the sacrament of ‘goodbye’, because once they receive it, the young people leave, and will return later for marriage,” he noted.

“We must make it the sacrament of the beginning of an active participation in their life. It is a goal that may seem impossible to us, given the current situation in almost the entire Church, but that does not mean that we should stop pursuing it,” he stated.

He then stressed that it can be useful “to allow oneself to be helped, in preparation for the Sacrament, by lay faithful who have had a personal encounter with Christ and have had a true experience of the Spirit.”

“But this not only affects future confirmands; It affects us all and at all times. Along with Confirmation and Anointing, we have also received, the Apostle assures us, the ‘garment of the Spirit’ which elsewhere he calls “the firstfruits of the Spirit” (Rom 8:23). We must ‘spend’ this guarantee, enjoy these first fruits, not bury the charismas and talents received underground.”

Finally, he recalled that Saint Paul exhorted his disciple Timothy to “rekindle the gift of God, received by the laying on of hands” (2 Tim 1:6), “and the verb used suggests the image of one who blows on the fire to rekindle your flame.”

“Here is a beautiful objective for the jubilee year. Remove the ashes of habit and disengagement, to become, like the torchbearers in the Olympics, bearers of the flame of the Spirit. May the Spirit help us take some steps in this direction,” he concluded.