Thursday, November 24, 2016
Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 204 – Part I.
(Youcat answer) In the Old Testament,
the People of God expected the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Messiah.
Jesus lived his life in a special Spirit of love and of perfect unity with his
Father in heaven. This Spirit of Jesus was the “Holy Spirit” for whom the
people of Israel longed; this was the same Spirit whom Jesus promised to his
disciples, the same Spirit who descended upon the disciples fifty days after
Easter, on the feast of Pentecost. And it is again this same Holy Spirit of
Jesus who descends upon everyone who receives the sacrament of Confirmation.
A deepening through CCC
(CCC
1285) 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
(Cf. Roman Ritual, Rite of
Confirmation (OC), Introduction 1). 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" (LG 11; Cf. OC, Introduction 2).
Reflecting and meditating
(Youcat comment) In the Acts of the Apostles,
which were written a few decades after the death of Jesus, we see Peter and
John traveling about to confirm new Christians by imposing hands on those who
previously “had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus”, so that
their hearts might be filled with the Holy Spirit.
(CCC Comment)
(CCC
1286) In the Old
Testament the prophets announced that the Spirit of the Lord would rest on the
hoped-for Messiah for his saving mission (Cf. Isa 11:2; 61:1; Lk 4:16-22). 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 (Cf. Mt 3:13-17; Jn
1:33-34). 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" (Jn 3:34).
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