An Explanation of the Ceremonies and
of the Wonderful Effects of the
Sacrament of Confirmation
By
A Sister of Charity of Providence
PENTECOST SUNDAY
When, then, did the Holy Spirit come to the Apostles? He did not come until after our Lord had ascended into Heaven. As Jesus left them on Ascension Day, He told them to go to Jerusalem, back to the Supper Room, and there prepare for the Holy Spirit’s coming by days of prayer and silence,—what we should call a retreat.
Since the night that our Lord first promised the Holy Spirit, the Apostles had learned how much they needed Him.
One of their number had betrayed Jesus, another had denied Him, and all but one had left Him to suffer and to die alone. Even after the Resurrection, they kept within barred doors for fear of the Jews. Surely, they needed strengthening, if they were to go out into the world and convert men as their Master had promised.
The Apostles, therefore, went back to Jerusalem as Jesus had told them, and they spent the days united with our Blessed Mother, in pleading with Jesus to fulfil His promise to them, and in praying that they might be ready to receive the Holy Ghost.
Ten days later, on Pentecost, as they were all gathered together, with our Blessed Lady in their midst, there came suddenly a sound as of a mighty wind, and immediately above the heads of each one present, there appeared tongues of fire. Just as in token of Plis love and tenderness, the Holy Spirit had taken the form of a dove at Jesus’ Baptism, so now He took the form of tongues of fire, in token of the fervor and zeal that He was giving to these first Apostles.
Before they could go out as teachers of the faith, they needed a more perfect faith and a fuller understanding of the great truths they were to give to others. The Holy Spirit came, then, to enlighten them; and because they were to bear witness by their fortitude in suffering for the truths they were to teach, the Holy Spirit also came to strengthen them.
If we wish to know what the Sacrament of Confirmation can do when we prepare worthily for its reception, let us notice the difference in the Apostles after their Confirmation. No more closed doors! No more hiding! After the Descent of the Holy Ghost, they came out fearlessly and confessed their belief in Jesus before their most bitter enemies, and rejoiced when they were cruelly scourged for having done so. We do not find that they ever again feared anything; instead, they rejoiced to suffer hunger and thirst, cold and poverty, scourging and prison, and they became happy martyrs for their faith.
Perhaps the graces of this sacrament were never more needed than in these days, when so many who hate God are trying to make us forget Him. Often we are called on to profess our faith when it is very hard to do so; when we may be ridiculed for it; when to say that we are Catholics will mean that we are made poor by unemployment; or when we may lose the friendship of our loved ones. But through the outpouring of the sacramental grace of Confirmation we are enabled to be true followers of Christ,— to be willing to die rather than ever deny our belief in Him, or yield to the enemy of our soul by sin.
