Blog
Preparing our candidates for the Sacrament of Confirmation
Now that we have shown what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says about the sacrament of Confirmation, how do we take that information and make a Confirmation Preparation program for the sacrament at St. Vincent de Paul? It starts with promotional materials in the chapels that we are ready to begin the Confirmation sessions for parishioners in seventh grade and older. At the first session, we give the parents the packet of information they will need to assist their candidate. The packet begins with an opening letter stating the Sacrament is a gift.
The sacrament is a gift.
“Please bear in mind that the sacrament of Confirmation is a gift of God himself. It is the gift of the Holy Spirit! One cannot earn gifts that God chooses to give. With that said sometimes gifts are so important that they need preparation before receiving. For example, we would not gift a motorized vehicle to a five year old and we only gift it to a sixteen year old after they have had proper formation. So, keep in mind, we are preparing the candidate to receive this awesome gift; nothing is to say the candidate earns it. Our hope is the candidate wants it and wants to continue to improve his or her relationship with God, and continue his or her Catholic journey in the sacramental life of the Church.”
We spend time explaining the purpose of a sponsor and who can be a sponsor.
Imagine if you could ask anyone to coach you in a sport or other activity in which you want to excel? Would you ask someone who coaches a professional or would you ask someone who did not know much about this activity? Chances are, you would ask someone with a lot of skill, talent and expertise and has shown their abilities to be an amazing coach!
Think about the coach you want as you pray about who God is calling you to ask to be your Confirmation Sponsor. Your Confirmation Sponsor is someone who is passionate about living out their Catholic faith. To really be passionate means they want others (including you) to be the best Catholic disciples of Jesus Christ they can be and will do whatever they can to assist. They are amazing role models in their vocation (married or religious) or in their state of life (single). They do all they can to live how the Church asks them to live. They want to help you live out your state in life in amazing cooperation with God’s graces until you answer your call from God to your vocation… and then they want to help you live that vocation cooperating with God’s graces and their help to the best of your abilities. They assist you in your faith journey through their prayers, example, and communicating with you about important topics on a regular basis.
Anyone can get a decent gift and organize a memorable party after the Confirmation Ceremony. It takes a passionate dedicated Catholic Christian to do these things and to be a Confirmation Sponsor. Find these people in your life and then ask them to be your sponsor! What a privilege and honor it is to be a sponsor and what a great gift you give to the person by asking him or her to consider it!
We explain the qualifications of a sponsor.
To be a Confirmation sponsor, a person must be appointed by the candidate for confirmation, or by the parents, or by whoever stands in their place, or (if necessary) by the pastor, parish priest, or minister, and is to have the qualifications and the intention of fulfilling this role: 1) be not less than 16 years old; 2) Be a Catholic who has been confirmed and has received the Eucharist. Non-Catholics and non-Christians may not be sponsors for Confirmation. 3) Lives a life of faith which befits the role to be undertaken; 4) Not to be bound by any canonical penalty legitimately imposed or declared; 5) Not be either the father or the mother of the one to be confirmed; 6) Because the sponsor must be leading a life in harmony with the faith, the person, if lawfully married must be in a valid marriage recognized by the Church. For the same reasons, a person who is simulating marriage (living together but not married in the Church) is not able to be a sponsor.
A baptized Catholic who does not meet the above-mentioned requirements may not be a Confirmation Sponsor. Namely, 1) A non-practicing Catholic (one who does not attend Mass, or has left the Catholic Church to practice another religion); 2) Married civilly, but not in the Catholic Church; 3) someone who is simulating marriage.
We also give them instruction on picking their Saint.
As we go through our sacramental preparation for Confirmation, Confirmation saints are chosen to be a person we want to be like, as well as someone who can pray for us from heaven.
Through the process of canonization, when someone is declared by the Church to be a saint, the Church is proclaiming that this member of the faithful practiced heroic virtue during their life on earth, ‘the Church recognizes the power of the Spirit of holiness within her and sustains the hope of believers by proposing the saints to them as models and intercessors’ (CCC 828).
To aspire to be like a saint is like trying to imitate an actor, musician, or athlete; a confirmation saint is someone amazing who we want to be like! You may have a famous actor, musician, or athlete that you really admire for their talent and skill. What many people don’t realize is that there are good people to look up to within our Church, for us to try to be like as well. It is common for us to think that only adults are able to become saints, but that is not true.
As a young teen in the early 4th century, Saint Agnes was martyred because she refused to denounce her faith. Saint Aloysius, a young Jesuit in the late 16th century, helped care for people who were sick with the plague, giving them care and love as they left this world. His close contact with the disease took his life soon thereafter. Both these young saints bear witness to having love of God as their first priority.
It is important to remember that as members of the Church, we are never been alone, as St. Paul said, ‘We are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses’ (Hebrews 12:1). These witnesses are the saints who continually intercede for us (CCC 956); in choosing a confirmation saint, we are choosing a special friend to intercede for us in heaven and after whom we can model our lives while here on earth.
You can’t call up a famous person you want to be like and ask them for help, but your Confirmation saint is someone who you can talk to whenever you need them and they will always have your back! As you read this, have you been asked to be sponsor; how are you living out your role as a sponsor? Do you talk to your sponsor or sponsees about the faith? Do you remember your Saint you chose at Confirmation; do you have a devotion to the saint today? How do you allow the gift of the Holy Spirit to move you in your day to day life?