Confirmation is a Catholic Sacrament of mature Christian commitment and a deepening of baptismal gifts. It is one of the three Sacraments of Initiation for Catholics. It is most often associated with the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Like Baptism, Confirmation is a sacrament of initiation into Christian love. The sacrament is celebrated by the Church according to the wish of Christ Who promised to send the Holy Spirit on His Apostles: "The Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name, . . . will teach you all things." This promise was fulfilled on Pentecost. The sacrament itself is celebrated very simply: after laying his hands upon the heads of those to be confirmed, the bishop (the usual minister of the sacrament) anoints their foreheads with chrism (oil, symbolizing strength) in the form of a cross, as he says: "Be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit."
By loving us and God in Confirmation, Christ reveals that we are to love as the Spirit loves us. The Spirit empties Himself even to the point of uniting Himself with sinful humanity. God the Son assumed a perfect humanity. In a sense, the self-emptying of the Spirit is an even greater humbling of God because the Spirit comes and makes His abode with sinners. The revelation of love in Confirmation extends beyond the revelation in Baptism. A child cannot give himself or herself as an adult. In Confirmation, we see how an adult should love. As the Rite of Confirmation states, we are to give our "lives completely in the service of all, as did Christ, Who came not to be served but to serve."
The grace given in the sacrament of Confirmation empowers us because the sign of Confirmation is one of empowerment. Oil was used in the ancient world to strengthen muscles, and it is still used that way today (e.g., Ben-Gay). The words of the sacrament, "Be sealed," also denote strengthening. When we seal something, e.g., a window, we are usually attempting to enable (empower) it to hold something either in or out, or both! Thus, the sign of the sacrament of Confirmation is one of strengthening or empowering. The sacrament of Confirmation empowers us to love as adult Christians.
