Confirmation

So yesterday our church welcomed 20 members to be adults in the church...so I thought I'd dig up an old post I wrote after I was confirmed (back when I had a yahoo! blog...which...really didn't qualify as a 'blog').

5/1/11 12:47am

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  Today, I was confirmed. I confirmed my faith, I confirmed my promise to willingly grow in my faith on my own, and in doing so, I was confirmed an adult in the Church. Msgr. Zens {his name reminds me of some short, little, purple, furry dude who lives in a mountain. I know my ADD is getting this from something...} anyways, each of his homilies for confirmation, he has a different word to focus on. The word he chose today was "Conversation". perfect word for the girl who loves to talk. {It also makes me think of converse shoes, but that isn't important right now} ...well honestly, and surprisingly, I do not have too much to comment on about the word...not much conversation about conversation lol. Maybe I'm just tired...I just noticed the time maybe tomorrow I will write about being on fire, or Joan of Arc...hmm or a combination of that since she was burned...

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kay, sorry...admittedly that was pretty much about feeling uninspired...but it was what I wrote while trying to fall asleep after my confirmation day.

I'll post the next night since it's a little more...inspired...I suppose...

5/2/11 10:05pm

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Okay, so I feel like a complete idiot for not making this connection about Confirmation and Pentecost sooner.

So anyways, I thought I'd type out all the connections I found, and maybe if you have something to add, leave a comment (lol you as in someone of my imaginary audience...or one of my four connections of family who doesn't have time to waste reading this... *"loser" smiley* -meh lol)

Okay, so Confirmation is the beginning of a person's adult life in the church. Basically, in my opinion (I do need to add that here since I am not the church), your Catholic faith truly starts at Confirmation, since at that point you are at the age of reason, and you agree, and fully believe the Church's teachings, and pledge to be responsible, continue, and follow, the Catholic faith. In the case of Pentecost, this was the st- {spider just ran across my keyboard...was somewhere in my bed. Finally found it, then realized I had no Kleenex except...well I wont go into the hassle of killing it, but it took me about 8 minutes to kill this darn thing, then I looked up and saw two more spiders on the wall. I am being intruded upon by spiders...*sigh* not the first time...}
ANYWAYYS {where was I?} oh yeah, okay, so Pentecost was the beginning of the Catholic Faith herself. Just as Confirmation is the beginning of each individual following their Catholic Faith. So that is my first, overall comparison.

Second, Pentecost was when the disciples and followers were scared that they would be persecuted and/or killed, so they hid by themselves in the room. This is very often the state which most of us are before Confirmation. We, the disciples, keep to ourselves about our faith. We are scared of how others will judge, and persecute us. So we hide it, out of fear.
Now for the most obvious relation, while the disciples were hiding in the upper room, the Holy Spirit descended in tongues of fire to each disciple. From that point on, they left the sheltered room, and went out into the world, spreading God's Word. They were not scared, they were bold. That had strength now to not be afraid to share God's News. Nothing hindered their faith spreading, not even different languages. Before, they were afraid to speak, now they could reach to all in a way each person could understand. Before, they hid in a room, now they went throughout the world preaching to those who needed to hear it. Now, Confirmation is the exact same. As mentioned previously, prior to being confirmed, we are often to scared of our peers' opinions and persecutions to speak out about our Faith. During Confirmation, the Holy Spirit descends into each of God's disciples (us), putting us on Fire for God, giving us courage and strength to stand up for our Faith, opening our mouths that we can proclaim and preach our Faith without fear, coming out of our hiding places, and going into the world. Many times people even start speaking tongues when the Holy Spirit descends into them, just as the disciples did 2000some years ago.
{I have this annoying idea that there has to be some connection with the room being the upper room...its annoying because the inspiration is only kindling, but I have no complete thought on it...}
So the disciples back then, go out and convert others to Christianity, not hiding or being afraid of persecutions because they are filled with the Holy Spirit, just as we become after true Confirmation.
I say "true" Confirmation, because perhaps not everyone has this 'effect' after being confirmed {here is my opinion again, rather than my 'observation'...}. But it does make sense as to why some may not have that 'fire' for God and boldly evangelize after their Confirmation, if it wasn't their decision. If the person was truly only going along to please their parents, most likely they would not have that same enthusiasm for the faith. But if they whole-heartily, wanted and believed their faith, fully knowing and understanding the meaning of Confirmation, then they undoubtedly receive that gift of the Holy Spirit, with its fire, courage...everything...

[I -the current 'I'- want to insert here, that even if a confirmandi didn't feel that 'fire' for God, that does not in any way mean that it wasn't his/her decision or that he/she didn't whole-heartily believe their faith... it's only a scenario for some of the ...not a generalization. Okay, I just wanted to add that...go back in your time machine to about a year-ago-me]

Next I want to examine the word 'Confirmation'. "the state of being confirmed" if we further define 'confirm' we get:
"to establish the truth, accuracy, validity, or genuineness of" Confirmation establishes, the truth, accuracy, validity, and genuineness of
The OneTrue Faith.
Along with that definition, Confirmation comes from the Latin verb "confirmo" meaning "to strengthen; to declare; to confirm". It is quite apparent that each of those translations play a role in confirmation. Strengthening your faith, declaring your faith, and confirming your faith.