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The Sixth Sunday of Easter (Year A)

In today’s first reading (Acts 8:5-8, 14-17), we witness the conferral of two sacraments. Last week, we read of the appointment and ordination of the first 7 deacons. This week, one of those deacons by the name of Philip “went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed Christ to them.” He then baptized those who believed (See Acts 8:12). However, this wasn’t enough. The apostles in Jerusalem sent Peter and John to Samaria so that they could administer the second sacrament of initiation: Confirmation. “Then they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.”

So what happens in Confirmation? Some have made the mistake of equating this sacrament with graduation from religious education. Others have made the mistake of thinking this sacrament is one’s choice to become Catholic, one’s choice to remain a Catholic, or one’s public declaration that they are now Catholic.

In baptism, one becomes a Catholic Christian. That is, one becomes a Christian who practices his Christian faith in communion with the same Church that Jesus established and continues to build day by day. After being baptized, the Christian resolves daily to live out this baptismal calling as a disciple of Jesus. Whenever we make the Sign of the Cross, we renew our baptism.

So what is Confirmation? It is what the minister says when administering the sacrament: “Be sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit” (See Ephesians 1:13 & 4:30). The Catechism says: “the effect of the Sacrament of Confirmation is the special outpouring of the Holy Spirit as once granted to the apostles on the day of Pentecost” (no. 1302). The Catechism goes on further to explain that Confirmation “gives us a special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and action as true witnesses of Christ, to confess the name of Christ boldly, and never to be ashamed of the Cross” (no. 1303). This is precisely what we witness the Christians doing in the Acts of the Apostles after the event at Pentecost!

Confirmation enables us to carry out St. Peter’s words in the second reading (1 Peter 3:15-18): “Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope.” Christ knew that the task of evangelization would be a difficult one, and he didn’t leave us helpless. His gift of this powerful sacrament enables us to accomplish what we could not otherwise accomplish by our own meager efforts.

In today’s Gospel (John 14:115-21), Jesus calls the Holy Spirit “the Spirit of truth” who “will be in you.” The Spirit first enables us to become holy, to be sanctified in Christ Jesus. Secondly, he enables us to defend and spread the truth that saves, and that truth is not an abstract body of concepts, but a person: Jesus Christ.