The Sacraments of Initiation
Homily for the celebration of Confirmation on the 6th Sunday of Easter
At this Mass we will be celebrating the confirmation of two of my college students, Ethan and Carson. We do this a lot through our campus ministry, and through our parish; we prepare people to receive the sacraments, whether that be baptism, confirmation or first communion. People may not be familiar with all that goes into that, but you should be. If you are doing your part of the great commission to proclaim the gospel to all nations, at some point you should expect someone to ask you, “How do I join the Church?” You should know the answer to that question.
So I want to take this opportunity to talk about the RCIA. What is that? RCIA? Isn’t that the name of an electronics company? No. RCIA stands for the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. And it’s about to get a new name. The Church is in the process of approving a new ritual text which will be called the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults, to bring it in line with the titles of the other ritual books such as the Order of the Mass, the Order of Baptism, or the Order of Christian Funerals. So soon we will be talking about the OCIA, the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults. But the substance of it will be the same — the Christian initiation of adults.
By “Christian initiation” we mean the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist. These are the three sacraments that incorporate us into the Body of Christ, the Church. They graft us on to the vine, to use the imagery Jesus used in last Sunday’s gospel. Through Baptism we die to our former selves and are born again a new creation in Christ. It is our individual participation in Jesus’ death and resurrection. That’s why it is the foundational sacrament which must be received before all others.
In Confirmation we are anointed. This is what gives us our Christian identity. Christ is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word Messiah which means “Anointed one.” Throughout the scriptures God would anoint people for special missions as priests, prophets and kings. Jesus is the fulfillment of all three of these types. He was anointed not with oil but with the Holy Spirit at his baptism in the Jordan River, just as the Apostles were anointed with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The Holy Spirit wasn’t given only to the Apostles, but to the whole Church. We see this in our first reading from Acts today, when the Holy Spirit comes down upon the Gentiles, sharing the grace of Pentecost with them. Confirmation is our participation in Pentecost, when we receive our anointing. We all need the anointing of the Spirit because we all share in the Christian mission to be priests, prophets and kings in Jesus Christ.
And through the Holy Eucharist we are nourished by the very Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of that same Jesus. He told us, “Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you do not have life within you” (Jn 6:53), and “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him” (Jn 6:56). We’ve been reading in the gospels about the need to “remain in” Jesus. Last Sunday we heard Jesus say, “Remain in me as I remain in you” (Jn 15:4) and “Whoever remains in me will bear much fruit” (Jn 15:5). And today we hear him say, “Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments you will remain in my love” (Jn 15:9–10). And one of his commandments is “Take and eat: this is my Body which is given for you.”
Having shared in Christ’s death and resurrection in baptism, and having shared in his anointing at confirmation, we now share his very life-blood in the Eucharist. This is what feeds us, nourishes us and sustains us throughout our life as Christians. That’s why even though we are baptized only once, and confirmed only once, we receive the Eucharist over and over again as often as we can until that day when we will share in the Lord’s heavenly banquet in heaven.
This is what we mean by Christian initiation; it is an initiation into the sacramental life of the Church. Our union with Christ is not just a theoretical union. It’s a real union. It means more than just knowing about Christ from reading the gospels. It means more than just believing that Jesus is the Son of God. It means more than just having “good feelings” about Jesus, modeling our life after Jesus, or even praying to Jesus. It means incorporating ourselves into His Body. It means being fed by his flesh and blood. It means sharing in His Holy Spirit. It means allowing Christ to live his life — to live the Paschal Mystery of His death and Resurrection — in you and through you.
And so for any adult who is not fully initiated, who lacks one of those three sacraments, we have the RCIA to prepare them. What do I mean by “prepare them?” I mean catechize them. It’s important that they know what they are doing. Not because they need to memorize certain information and pass a test so that they can qualify for the sacraments. That’s not what catechesis is about. You can’t earn sacramental grace like you earn a certificate or a diploma. Remember, the word “grace” means “gift.” You don’t earn a gift. You accept it. But as adults, as people over the age of reason, you have to know what you are saying “yes” to. The sacraments of initiation are like a marriage. It is a covenant between you and God. You have to enter into it willingly and that means knowing enough to make an informed decision that yes, this is what I want.
The other reason we catechize people before administering the sacraments is because we want them to be able to put those sacramental graces to good use. The sacraments work ex opere operato, to use the Latin phrase. That means “it works by the working.” What this means is that the sacraments are objective things. You really are reborn in baptism. Jesus really is present in the Eucharist. It doesn’t matter how you feel subjectively. But the fruits of the grace you receive in the sacraments don’t come automatically. You have to put that grace to use.
You can think of it this way. If I give you a book, and you take it, you really and truly possess the book. But if you never open it up and read it, you don’t benefit from having it, even though you possess it. The graces of the sacraments are like that. It is one thing to possess them. It is another to put them to use. To be a Christian disciple is to cooperate with the will of God and to put the graces He gives us to good use. We want those who are being initiated into the Church to be set up for success. So that’s also why we catechize them; so that they might best be able to put the graces they will receive into use.
How long does that catechesis last? As long as it needs to. There is no set time frame. It all depends on the individual needs of the person. Someone who is coming to the faith for the first time, who needs all three sacraments, will take longer. These people, called catechumens, are typically initiated at the Easter Vigil, receiving all three sacraments of baptism, confirmation and Eucharist. Some will be coming from other Christian denominations and may already be baptized. This is the case with Carson, who will be formally received into the Catholic Church at this Mass before being confirmed, and then will share in the Eucharist for the first time. Others will have been baptized Catholic as infants and raised in the faith but were never confirmed. This is the case with Ethan. These people are not called catechumens but are referred to as candidates for the sacraments. We normally don’t administer their sacraments at the Easter Vigil out of respect for their baptism. They are not converts. They are already Christian by virtue of their baptism. They simply need to complete their initiation, and the time to do that is whenever they are ready.
Whatever their sacramental needs are, we want to ensure that they have an adult understanding of the faith — a working knowledge of the Christian religion — because the completion of Christian initiation is only the beginning of a life of discipleship, of learning what it means to cooperate with the will of God in every aspect of your life so that you grow more and more into the likeness of His Son; of following his commands, sharing not only the Lord’s cross but also His joy.
If there is anyone here who lacks one or more of the sacraments of initiation, I encourage you to contact the Church about the RCIA. If you are a college student at the university, please reach out to me. Here at the parish, Mike Ensley leads our RCIA team. Or if you would like to sponsor someone in their initiation, please let me or Mike know. It is a wonderful thing to accompany someone through this process, and I always end up learning just as much as my students.
And please pray for Carson and Ethan, as well as those who recently received their sacraments at the Easter Vigil, and all of those still preparing for them. Through Confirmation they will receive the grace needed to participate in the mission of Christ, the mission of the Church, which will now be their mission: to share the good news, to make other disciples, by the testimony of their word and the holiness of their lives. They will learn to lean on God’s grace as they do so, and will also rely on our prayers for them. Because being part of the Church, part of the Body of Christ, means that we don’t carry out the Christian mission alone, but in solidarity with one another, as members of one Body, with Christ as our Head and the Holy Spirit as our heart.
