Vol 11 Issue 20 ~ Editor: Rev. Fr. Courtney Edward Krier
May 19, 2018 ~ Vigil of Pentecost
- What is the Sacrament of Confirmation
- Pentecost Sunday
- Saint Bernardine of Siena
- Family and Marriage
- Articles and notices
Dear Reader:
This week the Church will rejoice that the Holy Ghost has been sent to dwell in the Church as the source of her life and as the immaculate Spouse of Christ that was brought forth from the side of Christ. The mystery of the Descent of the Holy Ghost has been an important celebration for the Church as Holy Mother Church sees both the Pasch and Pentecost as the two most important feasts of the Old Testament and celebrates her own Passover, the Passion and Resurrection of Christ, and the Pentecost, the Coming of the Holy Ghost. The third feast, the Sukkot, or feast of tents, that commemorates the dwelling in the desert for forty years, the Church sees as a continuous feast by our dwelling here on earth until joyfully we enter the true Promised Land, heaven. Pentecost in the Old Testament was to commemorate the first giving of the Law (Ten Commandments) to the Israelites. In the New Testament it is to commemorate the Father and the Son sending their Holy Ghost. Just as in the Old Testament the celebration was for eight days, starting the day before, so also in the New Testament the Church begins her celebration on the Vigil of Pentecost (Saturday) and ends the Saturday after Pentecost, not allowing any other feasts, like the week of Easter, to intervene. The disconnect of the Conciliar establishment with the Church of Christ widens with each new leader initiating his innovations like the Protestants, not looking at preserving the Catholic Faith but, as they say, up-dating with their aggiornamento.
Below, Pius Parsch provides a wonderful meditation on this feast. There is also the introduction of George Kelly’s, The Catholic Marriage Manual, for our young adults’ instruction and reminder of Catholic living for our families.
As always, enjoy the readings and commentaries provided for your benefit. —The Editor
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WHAT IS THE SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION?
by Rev. Courtney Edward Krier
VII
The Continuation of the Pentecost, i.e., the Sacrament of Confirmation in the Early Church
The question arises: Was Pentecost just for the Apostles? Certainly the stress that it was not for the Apostles alone, but everyone, is seen in the description of those gathered together: All these were persevering with one mind in prayer with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren (Acts1:14). Who were these that were persevering? All the close followers of Our Lord, including Mary and the women. Why were they together? They were waiting in Jerusalem for the Coming of the Holy Ghost as instructed: [H]e commanded them, that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but should wait for the promise of the Father. . . . (ibid. 1:4). While they were waiting, Peter rising up in the midst of the brethren, said: (now the number of persons together was about an hundred and twenty:) Men, brethren, the scripture must needs be fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who was the leader of them that apprehended Jesus (ibid. 1:15-16). The fulfillment came on Pentecost:
And when the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them: And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. . . . (ibid. 2:1-4)
That all received the Holy Ghost corresponds to the words of Peter when he quoted the prophet Joel:
And it shall come to pass, in the last days, (saith the Lord,) I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. And upon my servants indeed, and upon my handmaids will I pour out in those days of my spirit, and they shall prophesy. (Ibid.2:17-18; cf. Joel 2:28-29)
Still, was the Gift of the Holy Ghost reserved just for those who were present when the Holy Ghost descended on Pentecost Sunday? Saint Peter addresses the crowd when they asked what was required of them:
Do penance, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins: and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all that are far off, whomsoever the Lord our God shall call. (Acts. 2:38-39)
Having quoted Joel, which expresses the universality of the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and then instructing them to be baptized and then those baptized could receive the Holy Ghost, there follows the baptism of about three thousand souls. (cf. Acts. 2:41)
The Acts of the Apostles continues to express that after baptizing there was then added that of giving the Holy Ghost:
Now when the apostles, who were in Jerusalem, had heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John. Who, when they were come, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost. For he was not as yet come upon any of them; but they were only baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands upon them, and they received the Holy Ghost. (Acts 14-17)
The deacon, Phillip, could not administer the Sacrament, but had to call upon an Apostle to come to give this Sacrament. The simony of Simon is also the occasion to teach that the giving of the Gift of the Holy Ghost was a not reserved to the original Apostles, but to be part of the priestly power which their successors received:
And when Simon saw, that by the imposition of the hands of the apostles, the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, Saying: Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I shall lay my hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. But Peter said to him: Keep thy money to thyself, to perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. (Ibid. 8:18-20)
Later, in the Acts of the Apostles there is another episode the makes the distinction between baptism and Confirmation—and demonstrates that Paul, who was not present at the Pentecostal event, administered the Sacrament.
And it came to pass, while Apollo was at Corinth, that Paul having passed through the upper coasts, came to Ephesus, and found certain disciples. And he said to them: Have you received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? But they said to him: We have not so much as heard whether there be a Holy Ghost. And he said: In what then were you baptized? Who said: In John’s baptism. Then Paul said: John baptized the people with the baptism of penance, saying: That they should believe in him who was to come after him, that is to say, in Jesus. Having heard these things, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had imposed his hands on them, the Holy Ghost came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. And all the men were about twelve. (19:1-7)
Ott (361) takes Hebrews 6:2 to refer to Confirmation, writing: According to Hebr. 6, 2, the imposition of hands, which effects the communication of the Holy Ghost (V. 4), belongs, side by side with Baptism, to the foundations of the Christian religion. Orchard also equates the imposition of hands to that mentioned above (Acts 19:6) as referring to Confirmation. This is because the rite of Confirmation immediately followed Baptism at this time (cf. Kuss, 77). Camelot (Christ in His Sacraments, 84) writes: We might also cite Hebrews 6:4, in which it is permissible to see references to the three sacraments of Christian initiation: “Those who were once enlightened (Baptism), who have both tasted the heavenly gift (the Eucharist) and become partakers of the Holy Spirit (Confirmation).” Camelot continues: Baptism and the gift of the Spirit are perhaps not so clearly distinguished in I Cor. 12:13: For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or free; and in one Spirit we have all been made to drink.
Using the term, Seal of the Holy Ghost as referring to Confirmation, in 2 Corinthians, Saint Paul writes: Now he that confirmeth us with you in Christ, and that hath anointed us, is God: Who also hath sealed us, and given the pledge of the Spirit in our hearts. (1:21-22) And then, to the Ephesians he reminds: In whom you also, after you had heard the word of truth, (the gospel of your salvation;) in whom also believing, you were signed with the holy Spirit of promise, Who is the pledge of our inheritance, unto the redemption of acquisition, unto the praise of his glory.(1:13-14) Later he also pens: And grieve not the holy Spirit of God: whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption. (4:30.)
The verses in the Letter to the Hebrews, using the term, laying on of hands, follow here:
Wherefore leaving the word of the beginning of Christ, let us go on to things more perfect, not laying again the foundation of penance from dead works, and of faith towards God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and imposition of hands, and of the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do, if God permit. For it is impossible for those who were once illuminated, have tasted also the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, Have moreover tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come. (Heb. 6:1-5)
St. John, in his First Epistle (1 John 2:20, 27) reminds the faithful whom he has confirmed: You have the unction [chrisma] from the Holy One, and know all things. . . Let the unction [chrisma], which you have received from him, abide in you. This corresponds to what he wrote in his Gospel: But the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring all things to your mind, whatsoever I shall have said to you. (John 14:26; cf. also 16:13)
Passing from the New Testament Scriptures to the Apostolic Fathers, those who had been instructed by the Apostles, there is no mention of administering the Sacrament of Confirmation, but there is no mentioning of any of the Sacraments, besides baptism, holy Eucharist and priesthood. Saint Ignatius mentions one should not baptize or hold the agape without the bishop’s consent (Epistle to the Smyrnaeans, 8), but it is hard today to understand his meaning other than the need of submission to the bishop that he champions, and not necessarily in a narrower sense that a bishop was needed for the rite of confirmation which was incorporated with the rite of baptism by this time, restricting a priest or deacon in contrast to Phillip the Deacon, whom one witnesses in the Acts of the Apostles, baptizing wherever he goes (cf. Acts chapter 8). The Agape was already rejected by Saint Paul:
When you come therefore together into one place, it is not now to eat the Lord’s supper. For every one taketh before his own supper to eat. And one indeed is hungry and another is drunk. What, have you not houses to eat and to drink in? Or despise ye the church of God; and put them to shame that have not? What shall I say to you? Do I praise you? In this I praise you not. (1 Cor. 11: 20-22)
To a greater extent, the Apostolic Fathers were exhorting the faithful to perseverance as the rages of persecution enveloped them and were more concerned the faithful didn’t apostatize and kept the unity of the Church found in submission to their bishops. It in no way denies this Sacrament continued during the time of the Apostolic Fathers, as would the lack of mentioning deacons deny the deaconate. One may here, then, reference Saint Jerome, who writes (379 AD), concerning the Sacrament of Confirmation:
Thirsty men in their dreams eagerly gulp down the water of the stream, and the more they drink the thirstier they are. In the same way you appear to me to have searched everywhere for arguments against the point I raised, and yet to be as far as ever from being satisfied. Don’t you know that the laying on of hands after baptism and then the invocation of the Holy Spirit [Confirmation] is a custom of the Churches? Do you demand Scripture proof? You may find it in the Acts of the Apostles. And even if it did not rest on the authority of Scripture the consensus of the whole world in this respect would have the force of a command. (Dial. c. Luciferianos 8.)
(To be continued)
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Dr. Pius Parsch
The Church’s Year of Grace (1953)
THE GLORIOUS FEAST OF PENTECOST
Pentecost—from the Greek pentekoste, the fiftieth day—is Easter’s double as well as its “jubilee octave” (i.e., 7 X 7 + 1). It brings the Easter season to a second climax. Pentecost, therefore, is not an independent feast; it is rather the seal or finale to Easter. If we do not overlook the fundamental differences, we might liken today’s feast to that of Epiphany; for Epiphany bears a similar relationship to Christmas as Pentecost does to Easter.
The following comparison may help. At Easter Christ, the divine Sun, rose in splendor; it is high noon at Pentecost and He sheds upon His vineyard the bright, warm rays that redden and ripen.
Another comparison. At Easter the garden of the Church is abloom with beautiful blossoms, Christians newly baptized and confirmed. By Pentecost these blossoms have developed and have matured into fruit, and now hang heavily upon the trees. The Gardener who tends the trees is our Savior Jesus Christ; the Sun that ripens the fruit is the Holy Ghost.
And a third comparison. At Easter we were born anew as children of God. Like infants we sought our Mother’s nourishing milk, the holy Eucharist; carefree and happy we grew up in our Father’s house. As we became older, Mother Church warned us that the happy time of childhood would pass. She taught us that we were strangers and pilgrims on this earth, that we must suffer and be patient (the third Sunday after Easter). Now at Pentecost we have come of age. Confirmation, the sacrament of spiritual adulthood, follows the same pattern.
Already in the old dispensation, Israel observed a festival called Pentecost, or the Feast of Weeks. It was a day of thanksgiving for the wheat harvest and also the annual memorial to the promulgation of the Law on Mt. Sinai. The old foreshadowed the new, now we are observing the true harvest of souls.
Pentecost marks the actual founding of the Church. On the first Pentecost the Church began to expand. Today she stands before us, vigorous and youthful, ready to continue her earthly pilgrimage that will terminate only with the end of time.
Pentecost also marks the beginning of the work and activity of the Holy Spirit. Before His departure Jesus promised that He would not leave us orphans. In His stead He would send the Paraclete, the Comforter, who would teach us all things, remind us of all things. In a most unique way Pentecost is the feast of the Holy Ghost; today His activity in the Church and in the souls of men should impress itself upon us anew. Give more attention to the Holy Spirit, He dwells in your soul; and since baptism He has made your body and soul His temple, a house of God. “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? Glorify God and bear Him in your body.” What saintly lives we would lead if we would but remember that the Holy Spirit is within us!
Christ is in heaven; He is our Mediator there with the Father. But on earth His Church is guided and directed by the Holy Ghost. Christ is, indeed, present in the holy Eucharist, but He does not use His Eucharistic presence to continue the work He began in Palestine. That He leaves entirely to the Holy Spirit. In the Eucharist His only desire is to serve as sacrifice and sacrificial banquet. Yes, we may say that the holy Eucharist is really the means by which the Holy Spirit sanctifies and glorifies.
The Holy Ghost is the soul of the Church. The Church is Christ’s mystical Body. In a living body there must be a soul; and the soul of the Church is the Holy Ghost. If only we would grasp this truth in all its implications! What does the soul do to your body? It gives life. As soon as the soul leaves the body, the body is dead, utterly incapable of feeling, thinking, acting in any way; in short, without a soul the body disintegrates. Now the Holy Ghost is the soul of that great Body, the Church. He is the principle of life for the Church as a single body and for every Christian as an individual cell. It is He who gives and preserves divine life in our souls; only through Him can we pray, only through Him can we act virtuously.
In each church there are places where the Holy Spirit is especially active, viz., the confessional, the pulpit, the altar. Invisibly the sacred Dove is always hovering there.
1) It is the Holy Ghost who gives the power to forgive sins. “Receive the Holy Spirit; whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them,” our Savior said on the night after His resurrection. Obviously, it is by the operation of the Holy Ghost that the priest can relieve one of the burden of sin.
2) Preaching too is the work of the Holy Spirit. By faith we know that the sermon is not the ordinary speech of man; it is God’s word. The priest loans, as it were, his tongue and his mouth to God. It is the Holy Spirit who preserves the Church free from error in her office of teaching.
3) Finally, holy Mass is the work par excellence of the Holy Ghost. Even as the incarnation of the Son of God was effected by the operation of the Holy Ghost (“conceived by the Holy Ghost”), so it is the Holy Ghost who now changes bread and wine into Christ’s sacred body and blood. For this reason the Holy Ghost is called down upon the oblation at the Offertory. In ancient liturgies the Epiclesis (i.e., “calling down” of the Holy Ghost upon the Sacrifice) formed an essential part of the consecratory prayers.
Joy should fill our hearts to the very brim today as we celebrate the feast of Pentecost. On no other occasion do we hear the words, “Wherefore the whole world rejoices with unrestrained joy” (Preface). How fortunate we Christians are! Strong and firm is our faith in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in the Church and in the soul! We feel His presence. However, neither the Church nor we are “perfected in love.” So we must pray fervently, imploringly: “Come, Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Your faithful!”
To celebrate Pentecost properly and becomingly, I must be convinced that the same miracle will take place mystically in my soul as occurred on the first Christian Pentecost. In the holy Sacrifice of Mass the Holy Ghost will be poured out upon me, one of God’s predestined children.
PENTECOST SUNDAY
Station at St. Peter
Today the feast of Pentecost has come, alleluia.
Today the Holy Ghost appeared to the disciples in the form
of fire and gave them charismatic gifts;
He sent them into the whole world to preach and bear witness:
He who believes and is baptized shall be saved, alleluia!
(Magn. Ant. 2 Vesp.).
The holy feast of Pentecost, the day on which the Holy Ghost came down in the form of fiery tongues upon the disciples in Jerusalem (Martyrology)
Great feasts should be celebrated in closest union with the praying Church. The day should be sanctified by reciting the various hours of the Divine Office at their proper times. Holy Mass, of course, is the highest expression of the day’s mystery. (It is taken for granted that copies of the Office for the principal feasts are at one’s disposal.)
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