Word to the Wise
Monday, May 5, 2008 - St. Vincent Ferrer, O.P.
[Acts 19:1-8 and John 16:29-33][Paul] said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?" They answered him, "We have never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." He said, "How were you baptized?" They replied, "With the baptism of John." Paul then said, "John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus." When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them.....
St. Luke and St. Paul are emphatic in Acts of the Apostles and in the Pauline letters that baptism involves the reception of the Holy Spirit. Since John the Baptist, great though he was, was not one of the apostles and did not baptize in "the name of the Lord Jesus," his baptismal ministry was incomplete. So, Paul confers the true baptism of faith in which the Holy Spirit is received through the imposition of hands. Our brothers and sisters of the Eastern Rites continue the practice of "confirming" at baptism. The Latin Rite (to which I and most of my "beloved congregation" belong) has separated the two events of baptism and confirmation. Bishops and liturgists and theologians debate the Latin practice with the result that every diocese seems to have its own set of criteria for when the Sacrament of Confirmation is to be received! Some dioceses set it in the 11th grade, some in middle school and some have started the practice of combining it with First Communion! In Mexico, for example, many dioceses celebrate it at baptism as well. One wonders if the Holy Spirit is amused by all this. The sacramental "problem" only arises in regard to minors, however, Any priest who receives an adult convert (as in RCIA, for example) is expected to confirm that adult at baptism or, if they are already validly baptized, he simply confirms them. Faith and the Holy Spirit are not truly separable since the former occurs through the presence of the latter even if, as those disciples in Ephesus said, the person has never even heard there IS a Holy Spirit. Nevertheless the church must share what it has, and the imposition of hands and the formal conferral of the Holy Spirit is part of our tradition. It seems to me that the true problem is more one of consciousness of God's presence through the Holy Spirit in our every day lives. We all too easily forget the event of confirmation until we are asked to attend one! The Holy Spirit doesn't just come for that event! The celebration simply completes the process of becoming a full member of the Body of Christ. What happened at Ephesus happens to others in our day. It happened to each of us. We just need to remember it! AMEN
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