The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 175: Introduction to Confirmation (2026)

Episode Date: June 24, 2026

We begin our examination of the sacrament of Confirmation. Fr. Mike emphasizes that the reception of Confirmation is necessary for the completion and strengthening of baptismal grace. He also highlights the vital importance of the reception of Confirmation because it gives us the power to be a witness to God’s grace on earth, just as the Apostles received that same power at Pentecost. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 1285-1289. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name's Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Catechism in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's plan of sheer goodness for us, revealed in scripture and passed down through the tradition of the Catholic faith. The Catechism in a year is brought to you by Ascension. In 365, we'll read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church discovering our identity in God's family as we journey together toward our heavenly home. This is day 175. We are reading paragraphs 1285 to 1289. As always, I'm using the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes the foundations of faith approach, but you can follow along with any recent version. of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

You can also download your own catechism in your reading plan like I have. You check off those boxes every single day. You can do that by visiting ascensionpress.com slash CIY. You can also click follow or subscribe in your podcast app if where you listen to this has the follow or subscribe buttons for daily updates and daily notifications or you just hunt every day. And so many people like to hunt and gather. It's like our ancestors.

And also quick thank you to all those who have supported the production of this podcast with your prayers and financial gifts. We could not do this without you. We could not get to day 175 without you. And yet, and yet, here we are reading paragraphs 1285 to 1289, starting a deeper dive into the sacrament of confirmation. And so what we're going to hear today is not only like yesterday, like where you had Nugget day, we wrapped up the gift of baptism, just as best we could, of course.

And we recognized that we talked about the three sacraments of initiation yesterday. There's seven sacraments total. The three sacraments of initiation, baptism, confirmation, and Holy Communion. Now, this is important because it says here in paragraph 1285, that it must be explained to the faithful. In fact, it says it must be explained to the faithful that the reception of the sacrament of confirmation is necessary for the completion of baptismal grace,

meaning that God wants to give you the abundance of grace. God wants to give all the faithful an abundance of grace. And so it's not just, yes, yes, everyone who has been baptized has received the Holy Spirit. Everyone who's been baptized has received God's grace. It's incredible. It's amazing. It's amazing grace.

And yet, it must be explained to all of us that the reception of the sacrament of confirmation is necessary for the completion of baptismal grace. And that's why we're going to dive in today. We're also going to look at confirmation in the economy of salvation, right? So confirmation in the way in which God has written this story. Like where does this come from? It comes from prefigurments back in the Old Testament and is fulfilled, of course, in Jesus Christ and then lived out in the history of the church.

That's what we're talking about today. As we enter into this day, let us pray. Father in heaven, we thank you. we give you praise and we just cry out in the power of your Holy Spirit that great are you, Lord, great are you, Father. You are so good and you continue to give us your grace every single day. Thank you for helping us press play today. Like honestly, thank you, Lord, for bringing us today 175 where we can hear more and more

about the love you have for your people, the love you have for your children and the way in which you want to pour out your spirit, make us all prophets to give us all a share in your priesthood, Give us a share in your spirit of prophecy. Give us a share in your royal gift, your royal office. You've called us to be members of your family. You've made us your sons and daughters. Help us to live like this this day and every day. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. It is day 175. We're reading paragraphs 1285 to 1289. Article 2. The Sacrament of Confirmation Baptism, the Eucharist, and the Sacrament of Confirmation together constitute the sacraments of Christian initiation,

whose unity must be safeguarded. It must be explained to the faithful that the reception of the Sacrament of Confirmation is necessary for the completion of baptismal grace. For by the Sacrament of Confirmation, the baptized are more perfectly bound to the Church and are enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit. Hence they are, as true witnesses of Christ, more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith by word and deed. Confirmation in the economy of salvation. In the Old Testament, the prophets announced that the Spirit of the Lord would rest on the hoped for Messiah for his saving mission.

The descent of the Holy Spirit on Jesus at his baptism by John was the sign that this was he who was to come, the Messiah, the Son of God. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit. His whole life and his whole mission are carried out in total communion with the Holy Spirit whom the Father gives him without measure. This fullness of the Spirit was not to remain uniquely the Messiah's, but was to be communicated to the whole messianic people. On several occasions, Christ promised this outpouring of the Spirit, a promise which he fulfilled first on Easter Sunday, and then more strikingly at Pentecost. Filled with the Holy Spirit, the apostles began to proclaim the mighty works of God, and Peter declared this outpouring of the Spirit to be the sign of the Messianic Age.

Those who believed in the apostolic preaching and were baptized received the gift of the Holy Spirit in their turn. From that time on, the apostles, in fulfillment of Christ's will, imparted to the newly baptized by the laying on of hands, the gift of the spirit that completes the grace of baptism. For this reason, in the letter to the Hebrews, the doctrine concerning baptism and the laying on of hands is listed among the first elements of Christian instruction.

The imposition of hands is rightly recognized by the Catholic tradition as the origin of the sacrament of confirmation, which in a certain way perpetuates the grace of Pentecost in the church. Very early, the better to signify the gift of the Holy Spirit, an anointing with perfumed oil, chrism, was added to the laying on of hands. This anointing highlights the name Christian, which means anointed, and derives from that of Christ himself whom God anointed with the Holy Spirit. This right of anointing has continued ever since in both east and west.

For this reason, the Eastern churches call this sacrament chrisman, anointing with chrism, or myron, which means chrism. In the West, the term confirmation suggests that this sacrament both confirms baptism and strengthens baptismal grace. All right. Then we have it, paragraphs 1285 to 1289. Oh, man, okay, let's launch in. We already talked about the fact that it must be explained to the faithful.

That's us, that the reception of the sacrament of confirmation is necessary for the completion of baptismal grace. Why? It goes on to explain. For, by the sacrament of confirmation, the baptized are more perfectly bound to the church and are enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit. Now, in baptism, we're brought into the family of God. Amen. Absolutely. We're made partakers to the Holy Spirit. Yes, we're given the fruits or the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Yes, completely. There we are. And yet, realize this. The apostles themselves, they were baptized. the apostles themselves, they had been adopted as God's sons. The apostles had a share in the Holy Spirit.

But even with that, they lacked the special strength of the Holy Spirit. They lacked the strength of courage. They lacked that special strength to spread and defend the faith by word and deed. They needed that outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Remember, in Acts chapter 1, what is Jesus promise? Before he ascends to heaven, the apostles, they say, Lord, are you at this moment going to restore the kingdom to Israel? Jesus responds by saying, it's not for you to know the times or seasons that the father has pointed out, of course.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses here in Jerusalem throughout Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth. That word for power is the Greek word dynamous, or dinemus, right? Dynamite. You will receive dynamite power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and then you will be my witnesses. That word for witness is the word martis, right? Or martyr. That's where we get that word martyr from. And here's Jesus. They have, they have received the Holy Spirit, but you'll receive the power, this unique power, this new power of the Holy Spirit, to do what? To spread and defend the faith by word and deed, to never be ashamed of the cross and to proclaim the name of Jesus Christ boldly.

This is what we're going to find out. We're going to find these are the part of the five effects of confirmation. And so this is why this is so important for us, not only because Jesus Christ has has made us into the sons and daughters of the father, not only because Jesus Christ has made us shares in his grace, but also because he's sending us out. When the apostles ask Jesus the question, Lord, are you at this moment going to restore the kingdom to Israel? Jesus doesn't say no and he doesn't say yes.

What does he say? He says, you, for your part, you will receive power. Dynamis, right? When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses here in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria to the ends of the age. That sounds like this to me. I use my interpretation.

Jesus, are you going to do it? Are you going to continue this work? Are you going to spread your gospel throughout the whole world? And Jesus looks at these apostles and says, nope, you are. I mean, in so many ways. I mean, obviously Jesus is working in them, right? He's working through them.

And so, yes, he's with them and he's active. But the reality is, if they don't act, the gospel stops, right? If they don't go out with this power of the Holy Spirit, and they don't spread and defend the faith by how they live and how they speak, then that mission of salvation ends right there. Here that Jesus has done, he's so humble. Not only does he become one of us,

not only does he become one of the poorest among us and the meekest among us, he not only allows himself to be shamefully crucified and tortured to death. That's how humble our God is. But then also he says, okay, this whole mission, the whole mission that I have started and I am pouring out my Holy Spirit for you to accomplish, if you don't do it, it fails. If you don't bring my gospel, if you don't bring my grace to the world, it stops with you. And that's the incredible thing is that for this sacrament, a sacrament of confirmation,

here is what God has done in you. But what God has done in you must not stop with you. What God has done in me must not stop with me. This is one of the reasons why Jesus Christ has poured out his Holy Spirit in confirmation. At Pentecost, and here is now the echoes of Pentecost in confirmation, the reason is because what God has done in you cannot stop with you. And so we're going to keep on talking about this in the next couple days. But this is a special strength to do what?

To be a true witness, martyr, true witness of Christ. And we are obliged to spread and defend the faith by word and deed. Now, last little note, I mean, that's the first paragraph. It goes on to talk about how from the very early times of the apostles, they had to laying out of hands. And then later on, in 1289, it talks about how, They added in that chrism, right, the perfumed oil, because it makes sense. Here's Jesus, who is the Christ, right, the anointed one. Here is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Makes sense. Chrismation. Anointed drives from the anointing. And so you have not only the laying of hands, on of hands, but also this development of the sacrament of confirmation, where there's also this holy oil, this blessed oil that the bishop himself blessed, typically at what a mass called the chrism mass, where he blesses the chrism, sacred chrism. And what does it say here?

The last line we heard today. In the West, the term confirmation suggests that this sacrament both confirms baptism and strengthens baptismal grace, which is what we're going to continue talking about as we launch into the next days investigating. What is it? What does it mean to be baptized and confirmed? What does it mean to be that, what they used to call to be a soldier for Christ? What does it mean to be sent out in the name of Jesus Christ to be able to bring his grace

and his gospel to the world? And that's what we're going to talk about in the days to come. I am so pumped. As you can probably tell, I kind of get ramped up. When I get ramped up, I talk a little faster. So I'm going to do my best in the next couple days to slow it down because, man, I am just so grateful to the Lord. I'm so grateful for you to be here. And it's so great for you keep pressing play because it's not easy.

As you know, you don't need me to tell you that. It's not easy every day to hit play. Whatever day you're on. Well, I know what day you're on. You're on day 175 hour long. It took you to get to this day. You made it. And so keep on pressing play.

keep on praying. Keep on praying for me. I'm praying for you. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.