Confirmation

Mary

This divine life within the soul contains every power which the soul needs to become holy and united with God forever. Because this life always strives for growth and completeness, the heavenly Father has provided special, external helps, called sacraments, that serve this divine life and bring it to its fullness.

Confirmation is the sacrament of Christian adulthood. A child experiences two lives. The first is lived in the context of the family, the years of growing up. The second occurs as the child grows and leaves the parent’s home for a life in the world.

Within the family, all is provided and the child lives dependently. A time comes for the child to shed this dependency and to forge his own way. Obviously, he must develop different skills and he needs much greater understanding.

This is an example of the graces given at Confirmation, which equips the soul to find its way and to cope with the problems presented by adulthood.