Sunday, November 27, 2016
Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 205 – Part II.
(Youcat answer - repeated) In
Confirmation the soul of a baptized Christian is imprinted with a permanent
seal that can be received only once and marks this individual forever as a
Christian. The gift of the Holy Spirit is the strength from above in which this
individual puts the grace of his Baptism into practice through his life and
acts as a “witness” for Christ.
A deepening through CCC
(CCC
1304) Like Baptism
which it completes, Confirmation is given only once, for it too imprints on the
soul an indelible spiritual mark, the
"character," which is the sign that Jesus Christ has marked a
Christian with the seal of his Spirit by clothing him with power from on high
so that he may be his witness (Cf. Council of Trent (1547): DS 1609; Lk
24:48-49).
Reflecting and meditating
(Youcat comment) To be confirmed means to make a
“covenant” with God. The confirmand says, “Yes, I believe in you, my God; give
me your Holy Spirit, so that I might belong entirely to you and never be
separated from you and may witness to you throughout my whole life, body and
soul, in my words and deeds, on good days and bad.” And God says, “Yes, I
believe in you, too, my child—and I will give you my Spirit, my very self. I
will belong entirely to you. I will never separate myself from you, in this
life or eternally in the next. I will be in your body and your soul, in your
words and deeds. Even if you forget me, I will still be there—on good days and
bad.”
(CCC Comment)
(CCC
1305) This
"character" perfects the common priesthood of the faithful, received
in Baptism, and "the confirmed person receives the power to profess faith
in Christ publicly and as it were officially (quasi ex officio)" (St. Thomas Aquinas, STh III, 72, 5, ad 2). (CCC 1317) Confirmation, like Baptism,
imprints a spiritual mark or indelible character on the Christian's soul; for
this reason one can receive this sacrament only once in one's life.
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