Friday, November 25, 2016
Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 204 – Part II.
(Youcat answer - repeated) 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
1287) This fullness of
the Spirit was not to remain uniquely the Messiah's, but was to be communicated
to the whole messianic people (Cf.
Ezek 36:25-27; Joel 3:1-2). On several occasions Christ promised this
outpouring of the Spirit (Cf. Lk 12:12; Jn 3:5-8; 7:37-39; 16:7-15; Acts 1:8),
a promise which he fulfilled first on Easter Sunday and then more strikingly at
Pentecost (Cf. Jn 20:22; Acts 2:1-14). Filled with the Holy Spirit the apostles
began to proclaim "the mighty works of God," and Peter declared this
outpouring of the Spirit to be the sign of the messianic age (Acts 2:11; Cf.
2:17-18). Those who believed in the apostolic preaching and were baptized
received the gift of the Holy Spirit in their turn (Cf. Acts 2:38).
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 1315)
"Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the
word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for
them that they might receive the Holy Spirit; for it had not yet fallen on any
of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then
they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit" (Acts
8:14-17). (CCC 1288) "From that time on
the apostles, in fulfillment of Christ's will, imparted to the newly baptized
by the laying on of hands the gift of the Spirit that completes the grace of
Baptism. For this reason in the Letter to
the Hebrews the doctrine concerning Baptism and the laying on of hands is
listed among the first elements of Christian instruction. The imposition of
hands is rightly recognized by the Catholic tradition as the origin of the
sacrament of Confirmation, which in a certain way perpetuates the grace of
Pentecost in the Church" (Paul VI, Divinae
consortium naturae, 659; Cf. Acts 8:15-17; 19:5-6; Heb 6:2).
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