In this month of May, we are discussing the Sacraments. In reflecting on my own sacramental experience, one sacrament in particular seems to fade into the background. Confirmation seemed to me, at the time I received it, to be just kind of a booster shot for baptism, and I viewed booster shots somewhat more favorably back in those years BCE (before the COVID era), but I digress. While the matter and form of confirmation were new and interesting, the purpose seemed redundant to that of baptism. Perhaps it was my own ignorance and/or inattentiveness to confirmation preparation that caused this, but the most in-depth characterization of confirmation that I could muster at the time was that it brought us into ‘spiritual adulthood’ without much more detail about what that truly entailed.
Looking back on it now, the term ‘spiritual adulthood’ seems to raise more questions than answers. For starters, what is the spiritual childhood that it is defined in contrast to? And why would we even want to leave that childhood behind? (cf. Matt 19:14) Even taking it to mean spiritual maturity seems unsatisfying since it is hardly the case that being confirmed suddenly makes one’s relationship with God progress to another level of intimacy and/or maturity. Most of us are still spiritually immature decades after confirmation; I would even wager that most of us receive confirmation at a time (around the beginning of high school) when our spiritual lives are poor and starting to get a whole lot poorer.
I think the reason this common characterization of confirmation is inadequate is because of one simple and understandable mistake that it implicitly makes, namely that it defines the purpose of a sacrament in terms of its effects on us. It would be missing a large part of the picture to say that the purpose of the sacrament of confession is simply to repair our souls from the effects of our sins. Confession is God’s pouring out the graces of Christ’s universal atonement to effect a reconciliation of the confessor with the whole of the Church, healing the mystical body of Christ, which the confessor has wounded by his sins. It is absurd to say that the reason for holy communion is simply its effect of bestowing grace upon the recipients of it. Holy communion is the perpetuation of that great Sacrifice which accomplished the salvation of the human race, and the continuous echo of that Sacrifice throughout the ages; further, it is the means by which the Church, the bride of Christ, is consummately, incarnationally unified to the physical body of Christ, and in so doing nails herself to the Cross with He who died for her. To understand any sacrament, one must pay primary attention to what God, who is infinite, is doing through it, rather than to its proximate effects on us, who limit them by our finite mode as receivers. (cf. ST, 1a, q.75, a.5)
To examine the workings of the Holy Spirit within the sacrament of confirmation, I will turn to St. Thomas Aquinas in the Summa Theologiae, where in discussing the baptism of Christ, he responds to a somewhat unexpected objection to the proposition that it was fitting that the Holy Spirit descend upon Christ at the Baptism in the form of a dove:
Further, the Holy Spirit is poured forth on others through Christ, according to John 1:16 “Of His fullness we have all received.” But the Holy Spirit came down on the apostles in the form, not of a dove, but of fire. Therefore neither should He have come down on Christ in the form of a dove, but in the form of fire. (ST.3a. q.39, a.6. obj. 4)
Despite the seeming triviality of this objection, Aquinas gives something of a monumental response. He takes the time to provide four arguments to the contrary and two explanations of why fire was the appropriate form for the Holy Spirit to take at Pentecost. His treatment of this objection is greater in length than the article itself and the replies to the three other objections combined! Clearly, St. Thomas really wants to talk about the two primary ways in which the Holy Spirit manifests, namely as a dove, as at the Baptism, and in the form of fire, as at Pentecost. So let us examine what he so eagerly lays out for us. I highly recommend reading the entire response, but below is my own synopsis of the first four arguments which treat of baptism.
First, he argues that a dove represents the disposition of the soul required for baptism, namely a state of innocent and sincere faithfulness. Second, he proposes that the dove is a sign of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, tying each of the gifts to a particular habit of doves, such as nesting in rocks (fortitude), feeding birds of a different brood (counsel), etc. Third, the dove symbolizes the proper effect of the sacrament of baptism (i.e. the remission of sins), and fourth, the dove signifies the communal effect of baptism, i.e. the increase of the Church, the bride of Christ, and he cites the Song of Songs 6:8 “One is my dove.”
Let us return, now, to the topic of confirmation as it differs from baptism. To start, it is distinct as shown by the differing symbolism surrounding it. The tongues of fire that appeared over the heads of the apostles at Pentecost were to signify, St. Thomas continues, following St. Augustine, “with what fervor their hearts were to be moved, so as to preach Christ everywhere though surrounded by opposition.” But St. Thomas also brings in the analysis of St. John Chrysostom on the subject, and I think this provides a very illuminating angle:
Since sins had to be forgiven, which is effected in baptism, meekness was required; this was shown by the dove: but when we have obtained grace we must look forward to be judged; and this is signified by fire.
This type of thinking can potentially remedy the shortcomings of the term “spiritual adulthood,” since one might understand it to mean that kind of orientation toward the end which is so important to maturity; while the baptized put on innocence without necessarily a reference to the inevitable judgement, the confirmed are called to recognize that judgement as imminent and act accordingly. To take an Old Testament analog of this, what the Holy Spirit does in the sacrament of confirmation is more aptly compared to what He did at the burning bush, rather than Moses’ flight from Egypt; at the same time, and to put a finer point on it, confirmation is more akin to the giving of the law at Sinai rather than the walk through the Red Sea. He calls us to a new life of fervent service, one which, in the example of the apostles, will more likely than not lead to martyrdom. Have we accepted that call? He bestows on us a new name, and with it a new mission. Have we fulfilled that name and that mission? Do we even identify with that name that was bestowed on us at our confirmation? Finally, He reminds us in confirmation that in the end, all there will be is the fire of His love, and our experience of that, heaven or hell, will be determined by whether we accept and embrace that fire here in this life.
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Thank you, Peter for this insightful article. I use it when preaching my Pentecost homily this past weekend.