Catholic Activity: Sacrament of Confirmation

Ways to appropriately celebrate Confirmation in the family as suggested by Maria Trapp.

DIRECTIONS

Another great day is the day of Confirmation, the spiritual coming of age of the young Christian. Much could we learn here from the Orthodox Jewish families and their way of celebrating the Bar-Mitzvah on the boy's thirteenth birthday, when he becomes of age before the law. The coming of the Holy Ghost, the sacrament of holy ordination for us lay people, cannot receive enough attention. It is a great joy to help the child prepare for this, his very own, Pentecost. With him we study the "Gifts of the Holy Ghost" and the "Fruits of the Holy Ghost"; we read together such books as Father Grandmaison's We and the Holy Spirit or the chapters pertaining to the Holy Ghost in The Spiritual Life by Adolphe Tanquerey; unforgettable hours are thus spent, in which we accompany our sons and daughters on their road to spiritual maturity.

We have always tried to mark the day of Confirmation by a gift or event which stresses the new status of the child as a person capable of independence and responsibility; f.i., by giving him a desk of his own, or, if possible, a room of his own. (It is significant that it is the custom to give a watch on Confirmation Day, to remind the young Christian that from now on he is responsible for the use of his time.)

These are the commanding high points in the lives of the young, and I feel that one can never do enough to make them into memorable events, keeping them alive in the memory of our children by celebrating the anniversaries of these days.

Children who have experienced the joy of being feasted will want to reciprocate. All the love and attention that is showered on them they will try to return just as lovingly and gratefully as their young hearts prompt them to do.

Activity Source: Around the Year with the Trapp Family by Maria Augusta Trapp, Pantheon Books Inc., New York, New York, 1955