Word to the Wise
Monday, June 3, 2019 - 7th Week of Easter - Mon
[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, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. [Acts]
JUNE 3 ST. CHARLES LWANGA AND COMPANIONS, martyrs
One can hardly blame the folks in Ephesus for their confusion when Paul asked them if they had received the Holy Spirit! They thought they were complete believers and now they discovered that they needed something else! The confusion still exists today. It revolves around the separation of the sacrament of baptism from the sacrament of confirmation. The introduction of the RCIA process further clouded the picture. At a given Easter Vigil anytime in the decades after the process was introduced, one might find folks who had never been baptized, folks who were baptized but never confirmed ("baptized but not evangelized"), folks who were baptized and confirmed and never heard from again..... One cannot assume anymore that just because someone has been baptized, or even baptized and confirmed, that they know a lot about what the Catholic church teaches about Jesus. I remember my astonishment when a practicing Catholic student, a really fine person, asked me, "Is it true that we Catholics have to go to Mass on Sunday?"
Confirmation is an important sacrament and signifies the completion of a process of initiation into the church. However, our Eastern rites confer this sacrament at baptism. The Western church developed the practice that the bishop would be the ordinary celebrant, which meant that baptism and confirmation became separated in time. Some dioceses in the USA are now giving the sacrament of confirmation at the time of First Communion instead of later on in middle school age or high school! The bishop in those dioceses now routinely delegate the pastor to be the celebrant of confirmation!
So, the debate continues about something important that has become a bit awkward in its timing. The folks at Ephesus can sympathize with us. AMEN