Joke: The gift of knowledge: The story is told of a man who went to the priest and said, "Father, I want you to say a Mass for my dog." The priest was indignant. "What do you mean, say a Mass for your dog?" "It's my pet dog," said the man. "I loved that dog and I'd like you to offer a Mass for him." "We don't offer Masses for dogs here," the priest said. "You might try the denomination down the street. Ask them if they have a service for you." As the man was leaving, he said to the priest, "I loved that dog. I was planning to give a five thousand-dollar stipend for the Mass." And the priest said, "Wait a minute! Why didn’t you tell me that your dog was Catholic?"

The priest responded quickly as soon as he heard a large amount of stipend might come from one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit called “knowledge.” We all know that there are seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, especially our brothers and sisters who will soon receive the Sacrament of Confirmation, the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is worth it to recall the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit which are: Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, and Fear of God. From the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit also comes twelve fruits: Charity, Generosity, Joy, Gentleness, Peace, Faithfulness, Patience, Modesty, Kindness, Self-Control, Goodness, and Chastity.

Administering of the Sacrament of Confirmation is usually done by the Bishop who has the fullness of Christ passing down from the first Pope of the Catholic Church, Peter. To show his fullness of Christ, when the Bishop administers any Sacrament or celebrates any Mass, he often wears his miter, zucchetto, pectoral cross, crozier, and ring (not talking about his alb and his chasuble). His miter forms two sides in the shape of the roof of a house to symbolize his authority on the Old Testament and the New Testament of the Bible. Two tassels attached to the back of the miter symbolize Peter and Paul. His ring signifies his authority. His crozier signifies his role of shepherding his people in his Diocese. There is only one chair sitting in the sanctuary of the Cathedral reserved for him and him alone. Nobody else can sit on it.

What does the Sacrament of Confirmation mean? Why haven’t we received the Sacrament at our Baptism like some of our other brothers and sisters in other denominations? Why do Catholics have to wait until around fourteen years of age to be confirmed? Why do we need to be confirmed? Many other questions may arise around the Sacrament of Confirmation. However, we will answer these few questions to help us to have a better understanding of what we received to complete our Sacraments of Initiation.

The Sacrament of Confirmation is to complete the Sacraments of Initiation, to help the person to be mature in his or her Christian faith, and to complete the faith given in Baptism and make you strong. During Baptism, your parents and godparents make promises to renounce Satan and believe in God and the Church on your behalf, but at Confirmation, you renew those same promises and this time you speak for yourself. At your Baptism, the Chrism Oil anointed on the crown of your head, but at Confirmation, this same Oil anointed you on your forehead in the form of the Cross accompanied with the words, “Be sealed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit.” At this sealing with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, you begin to act as a mature Christian. Are we not mature at our Baptism then?

In today’s first reading at the Vigil Mass, taken from the book of the prophet Ezekiel, who describes the work of the Holy Spirit, the power of the Holy Spirit that puts flesh and skin to close up a corpse of those dried bones and bring it into a living being. When we are children, we act like children. We put everything into our mouths while not knowing whether it’s good or bad. When we reach adulthood, we act like an adult and put our childhood behind us. During our childhood, we are baptized into Christ, putting ourselves on a white garment, but we do not comprehend the difference between right and wrong. At the age of reason, we begin to differentiate between right and wrong. When we do something wrong, we go to confession to seek forgiveness. We go to confession to clean that white garment to make it clean and white again. This confession or reconciliation that we first confess when we first receive the Sacrament of the Most Holy Eucharist or First Communion. Around the age of fourteen, we receive the Sacrament of Confirmation. In this Sacrament, we are sealed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit to live our Christian life as mature person.

At the age of fourteen, we begin to act differently from our childhood. That’s why we are not called children anymore, but teenage boys and girls. During these teenage years, we begin to have a better understanding of the world around us and a better understanding of our faith that’s we need the guidance of the Holy Spirit to help us to make the right choice, and right decision, and follow the right path in following the Lord Jesus’s teaching and the Church’s teaching. Praying, for example, Saint Paul reminds the Roman community and every one of us saying, “For we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groaning,” Holy Spirit will help us to direct our mind and thought to God, to help us do good and to avoid evil.

There are two important parts of the rite of Confirmation. The first part is the laying on of hands to impart the Holy Spirit upon all the candidates by extending his hands towards them and saying the prayer. The second important part is where the celebrant anoints each individual with the Holy Chrism Oil on the forehead in the form of the cross saying, “John” for example, “be sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit.” Newly confirmed responds, “Amen.” Celebrant then says, “Peace be with you.” Newly confirmed responds, “And with your spirit.” Because of this pandemic, there will be no shaking hands. It’s just simply a nod of your head.

At our Confirmation, we are sealed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit to be more mature in our faith and be more responsible for our Christian life. The question then is, after we received the Sacrament of Confirmation, allowed the Holy Spirit to guide us and lead us to live a mature Christian life? The decision is always yours.