The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 177: The Celebration of Confirmation (2026)

Episode Date: June 26, 2026

We continue our examination of the sacrament of Confirmation, specifically the celebration and effects of the sacrament of Confirmation. Fr. Mike explores the different elements of the rite of Confirmation and the ways in which Confirmation increases and deepens our baptismal graces. He emphasizes, in particular, the special strength of the Holy Spirit that we receive to spread and defend the Faith by our words and actions. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 1297-1305. 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.

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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 we're brought to you by Ascension in the Catholic Church. We'll read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church, discovering our identity and God's families we journey together toward our heavenly home. This is Day 177. We're reading paragraphs 1297 to 1305. As always, I'm using the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes a foundation 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 a year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com and CIY. And you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. Today is day 177. We are reading paragraphs 1297 to 1305. We're continuing on talking about the celebration of confirmation. So yesterday we mentioned the anointing, right? And of course, the anointing oil.

So the sacred chrism. But we're going to talk today a little bit about the consecration of the sacred chrism. So there's oil and there's oil, right? There's oil that you just use for whatever. We talked about, you know, all those meanings and the symbolism yesterday. But there's also oil that gets consecrated, oil that gets set apart. And it's the bishop, when the course of the chrism mass on Holy Thursday or in our diocese, you know, we do it on a Monday. We celebrate our chrism mass on a different day of the week because we're kind of all over the place in our diocese.

And so, meaning geographically. And so we have that chrism mass earlier on in Holy Week. But typically, chrism is on holy Thursday. And the bishop then consecrates the sacred chrism for the whole dioces. And in the eastern churches, they do a whole other thing. It's beautiful, it's powerful. And the bishop, when they celebrate the right of confirmation, he extends a particular prayer. We're going to go through that celebration of confirmation, how that happens.

Now, the effects of confirmation are what we're also going to talk about today. And I have to tell you, I am very excited about this. So we're talking both about the celebration of confirmation and the effects of confirmation. So let's dive right in right now. Father in heaven, we give you praise. We give you glory. We thank you for the sacrament of confirmation. We thank you for the sacrament of this whole.

anointing, where you pour out your Holy Spirit upon your children and send them forth and transform them. You increase the grace of the Holy Spirit. You increase the fruits, gifts of the Holy Spirit inside each and every one of them. You open us up to a special strength to spread and defend the faith by word and action. And we give you praise. We thank you so much for giving us the abundance of your grace in the right of confirmation. Help us to be open to that grace. Help us to open our hearts to allow you to move in our lives, but help us to be courageous. Help us to be generous in how we respond to your incredible gift of confirmation. We make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy

Spirit, amen. It is day 177. We are reading paragraphs 1297 to 13.05. The celebration of confirmation. The consecration of the sacred chrism is an important action that precedes the celebration of confirmation, but is in a certain way a part of it. It is the bishop who, in the course of the chrism Mass of Holy Thursday, consecrates the sacred chrism for his whole diocese. In some Eastern churches, this consecration is even reserved to the patriarch. The liturgy of Antioch expresses the epiclesis

for the consecration of the sacred chrism, Myron, in this way. Father, send your Holy Spirit on us, and on this oil which is before us, and consecrate it, so that it may be for all who are anointed and marked with it, holy Myron, priestly Myron, royal Myron,

anointing with gladness, clothing with light, a cloak of salvation, a spiritual gift, the sanctification of souls and bodies, imperishable happiness, the indelible seal, a buckler of faith, and a fearsome helmet against all the works of the adversary. When confirmation is celebrated separately from baptism, as in the case in the Roman rite, the liturgy of confirmation begins with the renewal of baptismal promises and the profession of faith by the confrmans. This clearly shows that confirmation follows baptism. When adults are baptized, they immediately receive confirmation and participate in the Eucharist. In the Roman rite, the bishop extends his hands over the whole group of the confirmans.

Since the time of the apostles, this gesture has signified the gift of the spirit. The bishop invokes the outpouring of the spirit in these words. All powerful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, by water and the Holy Spirit, you freed your sons and daughters from sin and gave them new life. Send your Holy Spirit upon them. to be their helper and guide. Give them the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of right judgment and courage, the spirit of knowledge and reverence.

Fill them with the spirit of wonder and awe in your presence. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. The essential rite of the sacrament follows. In the Latin right, the sacrament of confirmation is conferred through the anointing with chrism on the forehead, which is done by the laying on of the hand, and through the words,

Achipe signaculum, doni, spiritus sancti. be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit. In the Eastern churches of the Byzantine rite, after a prayer of Epiclesis, the more significant parts of the body are anointed with Myron, forehead, eyes, nose, ears, lips, chest, back, hands, and feet. Each anointing is accompanied by the formula,

the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit. The sign of peace that concludes the right of the sacrament signifies and demonstrates ecclesial communion with the bishop and with all the faithful. The effects of confirmation. It is evident from its celebration that 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. From this fact, confirmation brings an increase and deepening of baptismal grace. It roots us more deeply in the divine filiation which makes us cry, Abba, Father.

It unites us more firmly to Christ. It increases the gifts of the Holy Spirit in us. It renders our bond with the church more perfect. It 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. As St. Ambrose wrote, Recall then, that you have received the spiritual seal,

the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of right judgment and courage, the spirit of knowledge and reverence, the spirit of holy fear in God's presence. guard what you have received. God the Father has marked you with his sign. Christ the Lord has confirmed you and has placed his pledge the spirit in your hearts. Like baptism which it completes, confirmation is given only once. For it to imprints on the soul an indelible spiritual mark. The character, which is the sign that Jesus Christ has marked a Christian with the seal of his

spirit by clothing him with power from on high so that he may be his witness. This character perfects the common priesthood of the faithful received in baptism, and the confirmed person receives the power to profess faith in Christ publicly, and as it were, officially, quasi ex officio. All right, so there we have at day 177, paragraphs 12, 97 to 1305. You guys, how incredible is this? Now, of course, we have the very beginning. This just description, right?

The description of that we have the sacred chrism is consecrated by the bishop or in some Eastern churches by the patriarch. Really beautiful prayer there in paragraph. 1297 goes on to talk about the beautiful prayer of the bishop over those who are confirmed, right? So there's this moment where the bishop extends his hands over the whole group of compromands. And then they come forward and that sacred chrism that he has, he anoints them on the forehead and says be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Eastern churches in the Byzantine right, there's a lot more oil, a lot more different parts of the body. But that anointing is the

the key part, right? That anointing with the words, be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit or in the Eastern Church in Greek, or English translation, the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit. And then there's the sign of peace. If you remember your own confirmation, if you were confirmed, the bishop, you know, he anointed your forehead, said be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit. And then he says, peace be with you and with your spirit as you maybe shake hands or something like that. And that's paragraph 1301 talking about the sign of peace. That concludes the right of the sacrament. And it means something. It's not just like, hey, good job. Congratulations. it signifies and demonstrates ecclesial communion with the bishop and with all the faithful, right?

So you have that peace be with you and with your spirit between you and the bishop or you and the confirming priest as a delegate of the bishop as a sign and as a demonstration of the fact that, oh, you're united with your bishop now, which is pretty remarkable. But all of our talk about confirmation has been building towards this section today, not maybe not for you, maybe not in the catechism, but for me, because I have to tell you this. Maybe I've said this before. I'm not sure if I've ever shared this. But paragraph 1303 and 1304 and 05, they were life-changing for me. So this is one of those days. I'm like, wow, here we are, finally. Paragraph 1303. So I was confirmed, I believe the year before the catechism was promulgated, the year before the catechism was published in English.

And I remember going through confirmation. And, you know, the people who taught me about confirmation said, You know, you get the gift of the Holy Spirit. I'm like, great. So that's wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge, piety, fear of the Lord, you know, courage, et cetera. And fortitude or courage. It's all connected, right? And yet, and yet I was like, but what is it? What is going to happen?

And then the year after I was confirmed, here comes the catechism. And in the catechism are these five effects of confirmation in paragraph 1303. And I remember reading them and thinking, wow, oh my goodness, this is what confirmation does. So number one. Well, overall, it brings an increase in deepening up baptismal grace. Okay, but then here are the five effects. Number one, it roots us more deeply in the divine filiation, which makes us cry, Abba Father.

So you're a son or daughter of God, and it roots us even more deeply in being a son or daughter of God. Awesome. Number two, it unites us more firmly to Christ. And again, so you are united. Remember you brought into the body of Christ in your baptism? Awesome. But confirmation, you act us even more firmly to Christ.

Third, it increases the gifts of the Holy Spirit within us. So those gifts, wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge, piety, fortitude, and fear of the Lord, all of those, you receive them in baptism. But confirmation increases the gifts of the Holy Spirit in us. Number four, it renders our bond with the church more perfect, meaning, you know, this is another sacrament of initiation, right? So I think that's one of the reasons why maybe, I could be wrong in this one. I think this is one of the reasons, though, why people say, oh, if you've been confirmed, you're an adult in the church now. I think that's probably what they mean, maybe sometimes the age of them teachers who say, said things like that. I had teachers who said things like that when I was in high school.

That's when I was confirmed in high school. And I think what they were referring to is this, this fourth effect, meaning, yeah, sacrament of initiation, renders your bond with the church more perfect. There's not like more initiation after this because here I am living in the United States in the West. I was baptized, then first Holy Communion and then confirmation. So vendors are bound with the church more perfect? Okay. There it is. But the fifth effect. This is the one that I just, you guys, when I came across. this, I thought, yes, that is what I want. Here it is. It's broken down into a couple different parts. The 50 effect of confirmation. It says this. It gives us a special strength of the Holy Spirit

to spread and defend the faith by word and action as true witnesses of Christ. Remember back in Acts Chapter 2, what did Jesus say? He said, you'll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses. Here's what confirmation does. Gives us a special strength of the Holy Spirit, not an ordinary strength of the Holy Spirit and not even a common strength of the Holy Spirit, but a special strength of the Holy Spirit to do what? To spread and defend the faith by what you say and by what you do as a true witness of Jesus Christ. And I just think, this is just the first part of that fifth effect. How incredible is that? To spread and defend the faith by word and action. That's what, that's the gift that was given to you. That's the gift that was poured out on you in the

sacrament of confirmation, a special strength to spread and defend the faith by word and action as true witnesses of Christ. Secondly, to confess the name of Christ boldly. To confess the name of Christ boldly. Imagine what it would be if you and I actually did this. Like if the average Catholic who was confirmed, that's how we lived. We actually were able to confess the name of Jesus Christ boldly. And the third part is, and never to be ashamed of the cross. These are the three of, you know, obviously five effects of confrontation. That fifth effect has these three parts to it. The first one, special strength of the Holy Spirit, to spread and defend of faith by word and action as true witnesses of Christ. Secondly, to confess the name of Christ boldly,

thirdly, to never be ashamed of the cross. What if? What if that was common? I mean, what if that's actually what we said yes to? I just think there's something about this that just they lights a fire. Hopefully as you're listening to this, it lights a fire in you as well. because because paragraph 1305 says this, this character, right? This indelible spiritual mark, we talked about that, perfects the common priesthood of the faithful. So here you are. You're baptized, brought into the priesthood of the faithful.

You share in Christ's priesthood in this way. You're a kingdom priest. But this character in confirmation perfects that common priesthood. And the confirmed person receives the power to profess faith in Christ publicly and as it were officially, or in Latin, quasi ex officio. Do you realize that because you've been confirmed, you actually are an official representative of the church. You, in some ways, you can say this. You've been given the power to profess faith in Christ publicly, officially, as an official representative of the Catholic Church, as a representative of Jesus Christ, in this unique, completely unique way

as a lay Catholic who's, you know, we say, simply baptized and confirmed, you are now officially a representative of the church who must, must, you have received the power to profess Christ publicly? So here's the question. Do I? Do I profess faith in Christ publicly? Or is my faith something well, that's private? I mean, those close to me, they know that God's important to me. I mean, those who like, you know, in my home, you know, I don't feel so weird about it there. Like I pray there, which is great, which is great, which is right. That's wonderful. But you and I weren't merely given the sacrament of confirmation. The Holy Spirit was not poured out to us and into our hearts so that we could practice our faith quietly in our own homes.

We have the freedom to do that, God willing, but we were not given sacrament of confirmation to keep our faith private. You were given the sacrament of confirmation so that you were given the sacrament of confirmation so that you, You could be someone who spreads and defends the faith. Spreads and defends the faith by word and action as true witnesses of Jesus. That you have the power to profess faith in Christ publicly and, as it were, officially. You have been given the gift to never be ashamed of the cross. You have been given the gift to confess the name of Jesus Christ boldly. And so the question that you have to ask yourself and I have to ask myself is when was the last

time. When was the last time? I confessed the name of Jesus Christ boldly. When was the last time that I was like, if you really push me on it, I am ashamed of the cross. I mean, I kind of downplay the fact that I am a Christian. I downplay the fact that I'm a Catholic. When was the last time I just said, well, that's someone else's job. It's someone else's job to, I mean, you know, I, listen, I go to church, I pray. Someone else's job is to spread the faith. you in paragraph 1305 have received the power to profess faith in Christ publicly and as it were officially you are for all intents and purposes an official representative of the catholic church and so there are so many consequences of this one of them is this one of them is okay well the church

needs to do x you know more more catholics need to do why okay well remember you're an official representative of the catholic church so who needs to do X. Which Catholics need to do more Y? We all do. Right? That makes sense. And hopefully I'm not coming across like grumpy old man. I don't mean it grumpy old man at all. I mean this in the most positive, the most excited, the most joyful way that this is what's been poured out. This is the thing. As I'm saying, you guys, this is what after I was confirmed, I realized, oh my goodness, this is what was given to me and I didn't know. And this was what was given to you if you were confirmed.

And maybe you didn't know. But we have to take this deeply. We have to take this deeply into our hearts. And then we have to say, okay, God, how do you want me to do this? Because maybe it's standing on a street corner. Right, sure. Maybe it's getting that, you know, upside down box and standing on top of that and saying, you believe in Jesus.

Maybe that means that. But maybe it just means in your everyday life. to say, well, my job is spread and defend the faith by what I say and what I do is a truitness of Jesus. My job, what Jesus has done is he's given me the strength to confess the name of Christ boldly. What Jesus has done is giving me the grace to never be ashamed of the cross. How does he want me to exercise those gifts? How does he want me to live that out now in my life? It is not someone else's job.

It is my job. It's not someone else's job. It is your job. Does that make sense? But what a gift. but the kind of gift that we have to say, oh my goodness, Lord, if I don't use this gift, woe is me.

This is the last word today. If I don't use this gift, woe is me. If I don't use this gift, the gift is been poured out into my heart, into my life. Woe is me. And woe are all of us. If we do not proclaim the gospel, Jesus didn't die for us

so that we could simply keep it to ourselves. The love of God has not been poured out into our hearts so that we could not tell anybody, but just keep our faith private. The love of God has been poured out into our hearts so we can cry out, Abba, Father, and tell the world, tell the world about the goodness of God. So we have to pray. That's why we have to pray for each other. That's why we have to pray for ourselves.

Because how often do we want, are we tempted to shrink back? How often are we tempted to sell out our Lord and simply sell them out by being quiet? How many of us are Peter? I don't know him. I don't know the man. how many of us at work on a daily basis are Peter I don't know what you're talking about so we got to pray I don't want to be Peter I mean I want to be Peter after

after he falls comes back of course we want to be Peter who's strong I want to be Peter who's bold but too often we are the Peter who's afraid afraid to be identified as someone who's a friend of Jesus so let's pray I'm praying for you please pray for me my name's Father Mike I cannot wait to you tomorrow. God bless.