Our lives are always marked by important moments of passage from one stage to another. Our first day in high school, the start of our first job, and especially our graduation from school are events that we observe in a special way in our lives.
    In our Christian life, the passage to a stage of greater maturity is also important. Christian maturity, in fact, comes to us through a sacrament that we call “confirmation.”

    Confirmation fulfills the promises that our parents and godparents made for us in baptism. Through the sacrament of confirmation, we confirm precisely that commitment to renounce the devil and the works of evil, to become members of the church with full rights and full obligations.
    That is why the essential rite of confirmation is the unction; that is, when we are anointed with the holy chrism, that olive oil mixed with perfumes and consecrated by the bishop in a special Mass at the start of Holy Week.

    The holy chrism is a symbol that comes from an ancient tradition. In the past, it was the only perfume, and therefore, it was the liquid that was administered to kings and priests. The perfumed oil was also placed on the bodies of soldiers, because it made them less vulnerable when captured by the enemy.

    For this reason, the church has kept the holy oil as a sign of confirmation: because with its administration in the sacrament, the Christian becomes what Jesus Christ is: priest, prophet and king.     As a priest — different from the ministerial priesthood that is received with priestly orders — the Christian is called to consecrate the world; as a prophet to announce the Gospel to everyone in all spheres of his life; as a king, to protect and defend the church.
    It is important to know that, as a sacrament, confirmation does not “symbolize” these things. They really occur. The confirmed Christian truly becomes a priest, prophet and king.

    The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church thus explains to us the effect of confirmation: it “is a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit like that of Pentecost. This outpouring impresses on the soul an indelible character and produces a growth in the grace of baptism. It roots the recipient more deeply in divine sonship, binds him more firmly to Christ and to the church and reinvigorates the gifts of the Holy Spirit in his soul. It gives a special strength to witness to the Christian faith.” (Compendium 268)

    Therefore, confirmation makes the Christian a full member of the church. From now on, the faithful can no longer speak of “the church” as something outside or distinct from him or her. He who has received confirmation is a full member of the church. And as a result, he can no longer ask, “Why does the church…?”, but asks, “Why do I…?” The pain, suffering, good and bad actions of the ecclesial community are now his or hers.

    Administering the sacrament of confirmation is one of the ministries that falls to me directly as a bishop; and, although it is a power that I can delegate, it is the bishop, as the direct successor of the Apostles, who is the ordinary minister of confirmation. Why? In this way the church clearly shows the relationship between those who receive or have received confirmation and the succession of the apostles.

    Although confirmation can be received at any point in one’s life, with the sole condition of being baptized and having reached the use of reason, this sacrament is usually administered to adolescents and young people. Therefore, confirmation is an occasion to ask ourselves more personally about God’s plans for our own life, and to consider whether God is calling us to full service to the church, through the priesthood or the consecrated life.

    When meditating on this beautiful sacrament of Christian maturity, we pray for all those in our archdiocese who are preparing to receive it; and we also ask the Lord that all of us, who already received confirmation, may renew our commitment to the responsibilities we acquired when we received the sacrament.