LOGOS TRADING POST - CONFIRMATION & CHRISTENING GIFTS

Confirmation of the Catholic Church: The Holy Spirit’s Descent

Ephesians 1:13 says, “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.” God sealing us with His approval and His Holy Spirit is what Confirmation - also known in some circles as Christening - is all about. As such, it is a momentous occasion worthy of celebration in the life of any believer. It is our pleasure to offer gifts suited to such an occasion; we want our products to be a blessing to you and believers across the world.

Now, if you’re unfamiliar with the Catholic Church or you’re new to it, Catholic confirmation may be a foreign subject to you. However, if you have a background in any form of Christian belief, we would argue it is not so foreign after all. You’re probably quite familiar with the idea, but perhaps you’ve never heard it called confirmation as it is called in the Catholic Church.

Essentially, it is what the verse from Ephesians gets at when it says that we are “sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.” Most protestant denominations have some concept of the Holy Spirit being given to us to dwell within us, though to what purpose there is sometimes debate. We know two things for certain, however.

First, we are to be like Christ, and Christ has a specific, moment-in-time, experience in which the Holy Spirit comes upon Him, chronicled in Luke 3:21-22, which says, “Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

Second, Christ outlines some specific activities of the Holy Spirit among us in John 14:25-26, in which He says, “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” He goes further prior to His crucifixion and ultimately His ascent into glory in John 16:7-8 & 13-14, in which He is recorded saying, “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment...When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

From these quotes of Christ in John, we can determine a few activities of the Holy Spirit that have a Biblical basis. He will “teach you all things,” and He will, “Bring to remembrance all that I have said to you.” Let us focus on those two for a moment, since they are both related to knowledge. The Holy Spirit’s activity of bringing to remembrance is straightforward enough, the words of Christ - by extension, the Word of God - that we have heard before, the Holy Spirit helps bring them to our mind when we most need them. This is applicable in an apologetics context, but many people experience this in the context of personal prayers. Many have felt that the Holy Spirit helped them remember just the right passage of scripture for the situation they found themselves in, even if they hadn’t read or heard that passage in quite some time. A key take away from this that we cannot miss, however, is that we must be familiar with the words of God in the first place for this activity of the Holy Spirit to be fulfilled in our own lives. Now, of course, the study of scripture doesn’t have to be so daunting, considering we are believers who have the Holy Spirit. That’s where the other aspect comes in - the Holy Spirit’s role of teaching us all things. Scripture comes alive for believers, because the Holy Spirit reveals depths within God’s words impossible to discover without Him. 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 has to say on the subject, “But, as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagine, what God has prepared for those who love him’ - these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.”

Finally, there’s the second passage we looked at from John - John 16:7-8 & 13-14 - which speaks of three more activities of the Holy Spirit in us. He “will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgement,” He will “guide you into all the truth,” and He will “glorify me (Christ).” We’ve already essentially covered the meaning behind “guide you into all truth,” but “convict the world” is related. For us as individuals, that means that He gives us the wisdom and intuition to judge the right and wrong of our own conduct. God does not expect perfection from us, but He has given us a spirit who enables us to live righteously. Then, of course, the Holy Spirit always brings glory to the Son. This is simple enough, but if a spirit doesn’t give glory to the Son, then it is certainly not the Holy Spirit. We can know the Holy Spirit by His gentleness, His wisdom in teaching us, and His desire to bring God glory.

Catholic Confirmation Gifts for Boys and Catholic Confirmation Gifts for Girls

This is merely the beginnings of a study of the Holy Spirit and the sacrament of Confirmation of the Catholic Church. However, we do hope we have given you a baseline to know what exactly you’re looking at when you look at our confirmation gifts for boys and our confirmation gifts for girls, or at the very least, we’ve given you an idea of the heart we have behind these products.