LONDON - 21 October 2004 - 240 words
Review:
'Confirmation: the Spirit of Christ'
Bill Chambers
Confirmation: The Spirit of Christ, By Sr Mary David Totah OSB, (CTS); price £2.50
This booklet begins with a (presumably imaginary) conversation between a parishioner and a priest. She asks questions such as "Don't we receive the Holy Spirit at Baptism? If so, what is the point of Confirmation?"
Then there are chapters on 'The Effects of Confirmation' , 'The Liturgy of Confirmation., on the historical background; finally there is a brief bibliography.
Overall Confirmation increases the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and unites us more firmly to Christ. It also perfects our bond with the Church, since whereas Baptism can be administered by anyone, Confirmation is normally administered by a bishop, a focus of the local Church.
In the Eastern tradition Confirmation follows immediately after Baptism, and before First Communion, but in the West its administration became separated from Baptism by many years, and so in the middle of the nineteenth century the custom grew up of receiving First Communion before Confirmation. One consequence has been that Confirmation is often mistakenly regarded as an initiation into adulthood!
The final paragraph is a meditation on Our Lady's role in this sacrament. "If Confirmation is the personal Pentecost of each Christian, then Mary is at the heart of this sacrament as she was present at the moment of Pentecost."
This booklet should be a useful text for Confirmation candidates and their teachers.
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