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Vol. XXI, No.3
Accipe Signaculum Doni
Spiritus Sancti:
On the Sacrament of
Confirmation and the New
Translation of the Ritual
by Father John Grant — page 3
What Confirmation
is All About
by Chris Stefanick — page 5
Planning for the Pope:
Preparing Liturgies
for the Holy Father’s
Philadelphia Visit
An interview with
Father Dennis Gill — page 6
Creation, Grace,
and the Liturgy
Featuring Dom Virgil
Michel, OSB — page 9
Departments
News and Views — page 2
Letters and Readers’
Forum — page 10
Donors and Memorials— page 11
Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who brought these your servants to new birth
by water and the Holy Spirit,
freeing them from sin:
send upon them, O Lord, the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete;
give them the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and fortitude,
the spirit of knowledge and piety;
fill them with the spirit of the fear of the Lord.
Through Christ our Lord.
R. Amen.
Excerpts from the English translation of 
The Order of Confirmation © 2013, International
Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation.
All rights reserved. Published with the approval of
the Committee on Divine Worship, United States
Conference of Catholic Bishops
The Holy Spirit descends upon the
baptismal font at St. Thomas Aquinas
Church, the Newman Center at the
University of Nebraska, Lincoln.
Acknowledgment: Tom Kessler and
EverGreene Architectural Arts, New York.
SEPTEMBER 2015
Adoremus Bulletin • Vol. XXI, No. 3 — September 2015
NEWS & VIEWS
Reconciliation, Abortion, and the Year of Mercy
In his April 11, 2015 (Divine Mercy
Sunday) “Bull of Indiction” announcing
the upcoming “Extraordinary Jubilee of
Mercy,” the Holy Father spoke of “Missionaries of Mercy,” priest confessors
dedicated to celebrating the Sacrament
of Confession. They will be, Pope Francis says, “a sign of the Church’s maternal solicitude for the People of God, enabling them to enter the profound richness of this mystery so fundamental to
the faith. There will be priests to whom
I will grant the authority to pardon even
those sins reserved to the Holy See, so
that the breadth of their mandate as confessors will be even clearer. They will
be, above all, living signs of the Father’s
readiness to welcome those in search of
his pardon. They will be missionaries of
mercy because they will be facilitators
of a truly human encounter, a source of
liberation, rich with responsibility for
overcoming obstacles and taking up the
new life of Baptism again” (Misericordiae Vultus, n.18).
One instance of the Holy Father’s
giving authority to pardon a reserved
penalty is his recent granting of faculties to priests around the world to lift the
penalty of those who have procured an
abortion or assisted others for such an
act.
Monsignor Michael J. Gorman, Canon Lawyer and a Vicar General for the
Diocese of La Crosse, Wis., explains:
Canon 1398 of the Code of Canon
Law states: “A person who procures
a completed abortion incurs a latae
sententiae [i.e., ‘automatic’] excommunication.” The remission of such a
penalty is reserved to “an ordinary” in
canon 1355, §2. An ordinary is a diocesan bishop, vicar general, or episcopal
vicar, according to canon 134, §1. It
is the faculty to remit this penalty that
Pope Francis is extending to all confes-
sors during the Jubilee Year of Mercy.
The absolution of the sin of procuring
an abortion is not reserved and can be
imparted by any legitimate confessor.
In most or even all of the dioceses of
the United States, the diocesan bishop
has granted to any confessor within the
confines of his particular diocese the
faculty to absolve from the “automatic”
excommunication that is presumed to
have been incurred (see canon 1321, §3;
canon 1323 for exceptions). In the context of the Sacrament of Penance, both
the sin of procuring a completed abortion and the latae sententiae excommunication are absolved by imparting
the formula for sacramental absolution
as long as the confessor intends to absolve the censure (see Rite of Penance,
Appendix I, n. 1). During the Jubilee
of Mercy Pope Francis is extending this
faculty to all confessors with no restriction regarding rank or location.
First Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation Celebrated
Pope Francis, in an August 10 letter
to Cardinal Peter Turkson, President of
the Pontifical Council for Justice and
Peace, and Cardinal Koch, President of
the Pontifical Council for the Promotion
of Christian Unity, announced his desire to establish September 1 as “World
Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation”
in the Church, both at the Vatican and
around the world.
The annual celebration will “offer
individual believers and communities
a fitting opportunity to reaffirm their
personal vocation to be stewards of creation, to thank God for the wonderful
handiwork which he has entrusted to
our care, and to implore his help for the
protection of creation as well as his pardon for the sins committed against the
world in which we live.” To address
any ecological crises, he continued,
Christians “must first rediscover in our
own rich spiritual patrimony the deepest
motivations for our concern for the care
of creation. We need always to keep in
mind that, for believers in Jesus Christ,
the Word of God who became man for
our sake, ‘the life of the spirit is not dissociated from the body or from nature
or from worldly realities, but lived in
and with them, in communion with all
that surrounds us’ (Laudato Si’, n.216).”
The Vatican celebration on September
1 took the form of a Liturgy of the Word
in St. Peter Basilica with Fr. Raniero
Cantalamessa, the Preacher of the Papal
Household, delivering the homily.
On a related note, see “City of Farm”
on page 9 of the present issue.
According to the Secretariat of the
Bishops’ Committee on Divine Worship, the new Order contains a number of significant changes. The Introduction, for example, now contains 44
paragraphs of theological, pastoral, and
practical introduction, compared with
just 18 paragraphs in the first edition.
Rubrics and texts for the Introductory
rites, all but absent in the first edition,
are provided in a clear format. Two
forms for the entrance are described:
the first, where ministers, including
couple and witnesses, process together
to the sanctuary; and the second, where
the presiding priest or deacon meets
P
ope Francis, in a late August address, spoke of the beauty and
importance of family prayer.
Among his comments was the admonition of parents to teach prayer to their
children: “There is something that I
have very much at heart and that I have
seen in the city: there are children who
have not learned to make the Sign of the
Cross! But you, mother, father, teach
your child to pray, to make the Sign of
the Cross: this is a lovely task of mothers and fathers!” (General Audience,
August 26).
Any who have taken on the “lovely
task” of teaching children the Sign of
page 2
the Cross—parents, grandparents, CCD
teachers, pastors—know how it goes.
“No, no: use the right hand.” “Be sure
as you cross your chest to touch your
left shoulder first.” And apart from this
simple and profound gesture (which
sometimes seems, if my own children
are any indication, a next-to-impossible
gesture), are the names: Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit.
“How many Gods do we have?” one
of my children asked once at our night
prayers. She knew that the Father was
God and that Jesus, the Son, was God.
In characteristic Western fashion, she
had her suspicions about the more abstract notion of the Holy Spirit—but we
straightened that out.
Adoremus
Society for the Renewal of the
Sacred Liturgy
Christopher Carstens
Managing Editor:
the couple near the altar. Texts are also
provided after the Sign of the Cross and
greeting to introduce the Rite. As in the
first edition, the presiding minister may
obtain the couple’s consent either by
question and answer or by letting them
repeat his words, but he now has two
options of texts rather than one. Also,
an acclamation, “Let us bless the Lord.
R/. Thanks be to God” follows the expression of the couple’s consent.
Other adaptations proper to the United States, as well as what may be considered more minor details also exist,
and these will be treated in future editions of the Adoremus Bulletin.
Joseph O’Brien
Graphic Designer:
Danelle Bjornson
Office Manager:
Elizabeth Gallagher
Postal Address:
PO BOX 385 - La Crosse, WI 54602-0385
Phone: 608-521-0385
Editorial E-mail:
[email protected]
Membership Requests,
Change of address:
[email protected]
Website: www.adoremus.org
All in the Family
Editorial by: Christopher Carstens
The Liturgical Institute at the University of St. Mary of the Lake (USML)/
Mundelein Seminary has announced
workshops for the Fall.
The first workshop for priests and
deacons, “St. Augustine’s Preaching for
Today,” features Father Andrew Hoffer . This annual workshop will be held
Friday, October 30, 2015, at the USML
Conference Center, and will include
discussions on St. Augustine and the renewal of preaching today, biblical interpretation, and love of God and neighbor. Registration fee is $75; meals and
lodging are an additional cost. Visit
liturgicalinstitute.org or call (847) 8374542 for registration or further information.
The second set of workshops on
November 6 invites participants to
examine new English chant settings
for the seasons of Advent and Christmas. Directed by musician and composer Adam Bartlett, these workshops are intended for priests, musicians and all the faithful.
Visit
liturgicalinstitute.com for complete
details.
Editor - publisher:
Order of Marriage, Second Edition
The Order of Celebrating Matrimony, Second Edition, was given its recognitio on June 29, 2015, by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the
Discipline of the Sacraments. Following the customary review by the Secretariat for Divine Worship of the United
States Conference of Catholic (USCCB) and subsequent decree for publication of USCCB President, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, the Order will
be implemented. This second edition
in English has been a number of years
in the making, as it is the translation of
the second typical (Latin) edition published 25 years ago.
Workshops Offered at
the Liturgical Institute
How does one explain the Sign of the
Cross—a key element of which is the
Trinity—to a child, even after the gesture and words are accurate? This is no
easy task, whether it is an eight-yearold child or an 88-year-old adult. The
Father is God; the Son is God; the Spirit
is God. And the three of them together
make one God.
Yet this Triune God is, as our formation teaches us, the core of our faith.
The Catechism puts it this way: “The
mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the
central mystery of Christian faith and
life. It is the mystery of God in himself.
It is therefore the source of all the other
Continued on Page 3
Adoremus Executive Committee:
The Rev. Jerry Pokorsky
✝
Helen Hull Hitchcock
The Rev. Joseph Fessio, SJ
Contents copyright © 2015 by ADOREMUS.
All rights reserved.
Adoremus Bulletin (ISSN 1088-8233) is published six
times a year by ADOREMUS—SOCIETY FOR THE
RENEWAL OF THE SACRED LITURGY, in La Crosse,
Wisconsin. ADOREMUS is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation of the State of California. Non-profit
periodicals postage paid at various US mailing offices.
Change service requested.
ADOREMUS—SOCIETY FOR THE RENEWAL OF
THE SACRED LITURGY was established in June 1995
to promote authentic reform of the Liturgy of the Roman Rite in accordance with the Second Vatican Council’s decree on the Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium.
Adoremus Bulletin is sent on request to members of
ADOREMUS. Suggested donation: $40 per year, US;
$45 foreign.
mysteries of faith, the light that enlightens them. It is the most fundamental
and essential teaching in the ‘hierarchy
of the truths of faith’” (n.234). Consequently, the more we understand about
the Trinity, the more we appreciate other
mysteries of faith. This is especially true
of one of today’s greatest “mysteries” of
faith: family life.
The Holy Trinity is a communion of
loving and life-giving persons, and for
this reason the human family is characterized in much the same way. St. John
Paul II (relying in part on the Second Vatican Council’s Guadium et Spes) makes
this connection: “God created man in his
own image and likeness: calling him to
existence through love, he called him at
the same time for love. God is love and
in himself he lives a mystery of personal
loving communion. Creating the human
race in his own image and continually
keeping it in being, God inscribed in the
humanity of man and woman the vocation, and thus the capacity and responsibility, of love and communion” (Familiaris Consortio, n.11).
If the human family is an image of
the Trinitarian family, what ought this
kind of human union look like? What
should it reveal or—as a liturgist would
have it— what should it sacramentalize?
First, the members of a human family,
and principally its mother and father, are
united to each other forever – and this, at
bottom, because the persons of the Trinity share eternally a unity of substance
(they are, in the words of the Nicene
Creed, “consubstantial”). Indissolubility are marks of both the human and
Trinitarian family.
Second, husband and wife are faithful,
one to the other, forever united to each
other. While there are plenty of reasons
why fidelity is recognized as a good, its
root is Trinitarian, in whose image man
and wife and family are called to reflect,
where Father, Son, and Spirit give all to
the other for eternity.
As a result of indissolubility and fidelity, then, human families are also sources of life—life lived to the full in the
midst of the world and, most especially,
by the openness to new life of children.
Is the Trinity itself not the source of all
life, as stated in Acts 17:28, the God in
whom “we live and move and have our
being?”
Indissolubility, faithfulness, and openness to life are known in the Church as
three “goods” or “blessings” of marriage, and these goods connect many of
the articles in the present issue.
The USCCB’s announcement that the
second edition of the Order of Celebrating Matrimony has been confirmed by
the Holy See is the first such feature is
the USCCB’s announcement. The new
edition (like the old) echoes marriage’s
three goods: a free commitment to a
union that is forever, faithful to one another, and open to life. Or in still other
words: committing to a family that is an
icon of the Trinity. (See entry in “News
and Views,” page 2.)
A newly-translated Order of Confirmation has been approved for use in the
dioceses of the United States, one which
must be implemented no later than
Pentecost 2016. While there are very
few ritual changes (most are linguistic
changes as occasioned by Liturgicam
Authenticam), the new order makes for
an opportune time to review the theology and celebration of the sacrament,
which Father John Grant of the Diocese
of Tulsa does on pages 3-5, and to recall the beauty and power of the sacrament, especially for the young, as Real
Life Catholic’s Christopher Stefanick
writes. The Holy Spirit, who is the love
of Father and Son, unites those who receive him more closely to the family of
the Church.
Finally, September’s World Meeting
of Families and visit of Pope Francis in
Philadelphia from the 22nd to the 27th,
followed by the 14th Ordinary General
Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on
the Family from October 4-25 in another story echoing the family—Trinitarian
or human. These are important events
which should impact all Christian families for the good and for which we have
Trinity, by Andrei Rublev (d. circa 1428)
been asked to pray (see the Holy Father’s prayer on page 12). But there are
other concerns surrounding the Holy Father’s visit—especially if you are Father
Dennis Gill, the Director of the Office
for Divine Worship for the Archdiocese
of Philadelphia and principle coordinator of the Papal liturgies during the visit.
What’s it like to prepare the Pope’s liturgies on such a grand scale? Read Adoremus’ three-page interview with Father
Gill, beginning on page 6.
The “lovely task” of teaching the Sign
of the Cross in the family, especially in
its full weight and depth, is awesome indeed. Not only is it a lesson about the
Trinity, but is also a reminder of the indissoluble, faithful, and life-giving human family. Living in such a family is
a source of joy now and in the eternity
to come. Our liturgies— in particular,
confirmation and marriage—express
this truth and form us for human and divine family life.
Accipe Signaculum Doni Spiritus Sancti:
T
On the Sacrament of Confirmation and the New Translation of the Ritual
he newly-translated English edition of the Order of Confirmation
is currently in publication, and
goes into effect for the dioceses of the
United States beginning Pentecost Sunday, May 15, 2016, and may be used
before. This occasion grants us a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the sacrament itself fifty years after the Second
Vatican Council, and forty-four years
after the promulgation of its revised
ritual. Not that the sacrament itself has
changed during this time. However,
the same cannot be said of its pastoral
practice or the faithful’s understanding
of its purpose. For many Catholics, the
sacrament of confirmation is seen as the
opportunity for adolescents, who were
baptized as infants, to publicly accept
the faith by their own volition. And
while this is a necessary – even daily
– commitment in every Christian’s life,
God certainly has no need to sacramentalize our assent. Rather, this sacrament, like every other one, bestows
grace. It is a sacrament of initiation, the
second one to be precise. It is also not
“a sacrament in search of a theology,”
as is sometimes claimed. It has a theology and a purpose in initiating every
Christian into the mission of the Church
(cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church,
1316).
Unity in Sacraments
To comprehend properly the lex credendi of confirmation, we must recognize that the paradigm for sacramental
initiation is the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults. In the RCIA, catechumens are fully initiated: baptized,
confirmed, and receive their first holy
communion; this is the archetype for
sacramental initiation, even if the sacraments are separated in time when bestowed upon children. This process has
its roots in the events of the first day
that the Church received her breath:
Pentecost. After the marvelous events
of the Holy Spirit’s descent, the apostles courageously preached in tongues,
and moved by St. Peter’s exhortation
the first catechumens asked, “What
shall we do?” Peter’s response outlines
the first Christian initiation in the age
of the Church: “And Peter said to them,
‘Repent, and be baptized every one of
you in the name of Jesus Christ for the
forgiveness of your sins; and you shall
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’…
So those who received his word were
baptized, and there were added that day
about three thousand souls. And they
devoted themselves to the apostles’
teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts
2:38, 41-42).
As each age reflected upon the apostolic tradition, the structure of initiation became more concrete. So by the
fourth century, it is clearly delineated
in various mystagogical catecheses. For
instance, St. Ambrose describes that after baptism, “Next comes the spiritual
sealing…. For after what took place at
the font it remains to perfect all that has
been done. This happens when the Holy
Spirit is poured forth at the invocation
by the bishop: ‘the spirit of wisdom and
of understanding, the spirit of counsel
and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge
and of piety, the spirit of holy fear’”
(Ambrose, De Sacramentis, Bk. III, ch.
2, 8).
The sacraments of initiation eventually became separated because of infant
baptism and lack of access to the bishop (it was impossible for the bishop to
baptize or initiate every soul), but they
have always been intended to be understood in reference to each other as
a unity. “Baptism incorporates us into
Christ and forms us into God’s people…. By signing us with the gift of
the Spirit, confirmation makes us more
completely the image of the Lord and
fills us with the Holy Spirit, so that we
may bear witness to him before all the
world…. Finally, coming to the table of
the Eucharist, we eat the flesh and drink
the blood of the Son of Man so that we
may have eternal life and show forth
the unity of God’s people…. Thus the
three sacraments of Christian initiation
closely combine to bring us, the faithful
of Christ, to his full stature and to enable us to carry out the mission of the
entire people of God in the Church and
in the world” (RCIA, General Introduction, 2). This unity is so, because Christian initiation sacramentally inserts the
neophyte into the Paschal Mystery of
Christ: his life, passion, death, resurrection, and ascension. In baptism, the
catechumen dies and rises with Christ
in the waters of new birth. In confirmation, the Holy Spirit strengthens him for
the messianic mission as Christ himself
was after his baptism in the Jordan, and
the apostles at Pentecost. Then in the
Eucharist, “which is the fount and apex
of the whole Christian life” (Lumen
Gentium, 11), the initiate is substantially united to Christ’s obedient sacrifice
to the Father and the glory of the Son’s
resurrection.
The Order of Confirmation preserves
this unity, for it connects the celebration
Continued on Page 4
page 3
Continued from Page 4
of confirmation to its antecedent sacrament of baptism by means of renewing
the confirmand’s baptismal vows. Furthermore, it understands confirmation
as being oriented toward the consummation of initiation in the Eucharist:
“As a rule, Confirmation takes place
within Mass so that the fundamental
connection of this Sacrament with all of
Christian Initiation, which reaches its
culmination in the Communion of the
Body and Blood of Christ, may stand
out in a clearer light. The newly confirmed therefore participate in the Eucharist, which completes their Christian
Initiation” (Order of Confirmation, 13).
And yet completion of initiation does
not mean completion in an unqualified
sense. This is why the final sacrament of
initiation, the Eucharist, is not received
only once but continuously from initiation throughout life, since the faithful
continue to be ever perfected by grace
which was given to them in initiation,
but which has still yet to be brought to
completion.
Spirit Within and Throughout
If confirmation is an integral part
of Christian initiation understood as a
unity, then how does it differ from the
other two sacraments? After all, is not
the Holy Spirit granted to each Christian in baptism? Certainly! But we may
say that as the Holy Spirit is given in
baptism, he imparts a character of receptivity (ad intra) to the neophyte,
whereas in confirmation he is given for
the purpose of strengthening the Christian’s character for evangelization (ad
extra). “[B]y the sacrament of Confirmation man is given a spiritual power
in respect of sacred actions other than
those in respect of which he receives
power in Baptism. For in Baptism he
receives power to do those things which
pertain to his own salvation, forasmuch
as he lives to himself: whereas in Confirmation he receives power to do those
things which pertain to the spiritual
combat with the enemies of the Faith”
(Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica,
III, q. 72, a. 5). This is why “it must
be explained to the faithful that the reception of the sacrament of Confirmation is necessary for the completion of
baptismal grace” (CCC, 1285). In baptism the catechumen receives the Spirit
of adoption, which allows him to cry
out, “Abba!” (Romans 8:15). Here the
Holy Spirit regenerates, cleanses from
sin, and makes the neophyte an adopted child of God. These are the ad intra effects of the Holy Spirit at work in
baptism. However, in confirmation the
recipient receives the Gift of the Spirit
himself in a more intimate way. It is a
special ad extra strengthening of the
messianic Spirit, which binds the baptized to a more perfect union with Christ
and his Church for the purpose of being his witnesses in the world, “obliged
to spread and defend the faith by word
and deed” (Paul VI, Divinae Consortium Naturae; cf. Lumen Gentium, 11).
While the Christian mission belongs
to all the baptized, it is amplified and
perfected by the gifts of the Holy Spirit
in confirmation. Like baptism, confirmation imparts a sacramental character
or seal which cannot be removed or repeated and consecrates the Christian to
both service and worship. Confirmation
perfects and consummates baptism, but
it is also subsequently directed toward
its own consummation in the Eucharist
which is the “center and goal of all sacramental life” (Benedict XVI, Sacramentum Caritas, 17).
Ancient and New
When the ritual for confirmation was
revised by the Consilium after the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI clarified the sacramental form and matter.
Catholic tradition has always regarded
the apostolic practice of laying on of
hands as described in Acts 8 as the origin of the sacramental practice of confirmation (CCC, 1288, 1315). But since
Christ means “anointed one,” a Christian is also one who has been anointed
(CCC,436, 1289). Recognizing that
there had been a variety of traditions for
the conferral of confirmation throughout the history of the Church, Pope Paul
VI exercised his apostolic authority to
assert the anointing with chrism as the
essential matter (Paul VI, Divinae Consortium Naturae). This decision was not
arbitrary, but clearly rooted in holy tradition and provided an ecumenical accord with the Eastern practice. He likewise appropriated the Byzantine form
of the sacrament which is derived from
scripture: “Be sealed with the Gift of
the Holy Spirit” (cf. 2Cor 1:21-22; Eph
1:13-14, 4:30; 1Jn 2:20, 27). Thus, the
pope definitively promulgated: “The
sacrament of confirmation is conferred
through the anointing with chrism on
the forehead, which is done by the laying on of the hand, and through the
words: Accipe Signaculum Doni Spiritus Sancti” (Paul VI, Divinae Consortium Naturae). The new translation has
not changed this formula – it remains:
“N., be sealed with the Gift of the Holy
Spirit” (Order of Confirmation, 9, 27).
When considering the effects of the
sacrament of confirmation, the most
pressing concern is whether or
not it is necessary for salvation. Strictly speaking, it
is not. But the Church
does require both
in teaching and
in law that her
members be
confirmed.
The
Catechism insists: “Baptism, the Eucharist, and
the sacrament
of Confirmation together
constitute
the
‘sacraments
of
Christian initiation,’
whose unity must be
safeguarded. It must be explained to the faithful that the
Holy Spirit medallion, Whitney Cox and EverGreene Studies. Installed 2014 at
the St. Joseph Co-Cathedral, Brooklyn, NY
page 4
Pentecost, by Jan Joest (d.1519)
reception of the sacrament of Confirmation is necessary for the completion
of baptismal grace.” (CCC, 1285, emphasis added). Canon Law adds, “The
faithful are obliged to receive this sacrament at the proper time. Parents and
pastors of souls, especially pastors of
parishes, are to take care that the faithful are properly instructed to receive the
sacrament and come to it at the appropriate time” (1983 Code of Canon Law,
890.). In fact, the Church sees this sacrament as so necessary that she not only
allows, but requires, priests to administer it to all who are in danger of death,
whether infant or adult (cf. 1983 Code
of Canon Law, 883, 891).
The fact that the Church extends this
duty to priests, who (at least in the Latin
Church) may be considered extraordinary ministers of confirmation, signifies
just how seriously the Church holds the
necessity of this sacrament, since ordinarily it is rightly reserved to bishops.
Chapter IV of the Order of Confirmation provides the rite for “Confirmation
to be Administered to a Sick Person in
Danger of Death.” However, in pastoral practice the rite for “Christian Initiation for the Dying,” which comes from
the RCIA, but has been included in the
Pastoral Care of the Sick, is probably
more often used since it is a continuous
rite for administering all three sacraments of initiation to either a catechumen or an infant in danger of death.
And while there is a stated disapprobation that confirmation not be celebrated with anointing of the sick (Order
of Confirmation, 52), the “Continuous
Rite of Penance, Anointing, and Viaticum” in the Pastoral Care of the Sick
does allow for the possibility of confir-
mation to be conferred upon a Catholic
adult who has not received it (Pastoral
Care of the Sick, 238, 246).
However, if the purpose of confirmation, which has already been stated, is
to strengthen Christians “to spread and
defend the faith” (Lumen Gentium,
11), how can it do so in the case of infants who are unable to evangelize or
for those who are near death? In these
cases confirmation is bestowed not as a
strengthening for the ecclesial mission
of evangelization, but for the perfection
of the Christian person, for a greater
share in the sanctifying grace bestowed
by the sacraments, for the sacramental character that conforms the dying
Christian more closely to Christ, and
a fuller participation in the divine life
of the Son through the Holy Spirit. And
these are worthy reasons to facilitate the
reception of this sacrament to any and
all Christians before they depart this
world. Yet, it also reinforces the great
dignity and responsibility this sacrament confers to those who do live out
of its graces.
Rites and Texts
Turning our attention now to the ritual celebration, the lex orandi of the
newly translated Order, the first thing to
note is that there are very few changes.
Of course, all of the people’s responses have been brought into conformity
with the Roman Missal, as have those
rubrics which are echoed from the Missal, such as “Bow down for the blessing.” Titles have also been brought into
consistency, with the intercessions being named “The Universal Prayer,” and
even the title of Chapter I, “The Order
for the Conferral of Confirmation Within Mass” (emphasis added), since that
Continued on Page 5
is how the Roman Missal titles the corresponding ritual Mass. All of the texts
from this ritual Mass, according to the
2011 translation, have been incorporated
into the new Order without change, including inserts for Eucharistic Prayers
II and III, which were additions to the
editio typica tertia. The invitation and
prayer at “The Laying on of Hands” has
been retranslated, borrowing much of its
verbiage from the Roman Missal’s translation of similar phrases in other prayers,
as have the petitions of “The Universal
Prayer.” Finally, the Gloria is now prescribed for all confirmation Masses in
accordance with the rubrics of the Roman Missal (cf. Ritual Masses, I.4).
But the Missal is not the only Church
document to affect the new translation of
the Order for Confirmation. Two others
which did not exist at the time the Order
was originally revised are the Catechism
and the 1983 Code of Canon Law. Each
of these have also introduced small but
significant changes into the Order to establish conformity and compliance. The
Order for Confirmation’s “Introduction”
at n. 5 had to be adapted to reflect canons
874§1.5 and 893, which prohibit parents
from acting as sponsors. Likewise, the
instruction in n. 18 was changed, which
now calls the bishop the “ordinary minister,” (versus “original minister” in the
first edition) to reflect the understanding
of canon 882 and the Catechism’s paragraph n. 1313, which call the bishop the
“ordinary minister of confirmation in
the Latin Church.” Finally, when enumerated in the prayer at “The Laying on
of Hands,” the gifts of the Holy Spirit
have been named according to the Catechism’s denominations: “wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge,
piety, and fear of the Lord” (CCC,1831).
The prayers that are most revealing
of what we believe about the sacrament
of confirmation are the priestly prayers
from the ritual Mass. These prayers are
clear that confirmation perfects our conformity to Christ, but for the purpose of
witnessing to him by this identification:
“…grant that, being conformed more
perfectly to your Son, they may grow
steadily in bearing witness to him…”
(Order of Confirmation, 58, “Prayer
over the Offerings”); “…that they may
constantly show to the world the freedom of your adopted children and, by
the holiness of their lives, exercise the
prophetic mission of your people” (Or-
What It’s All About
by Chris Stefanick
Confirmation left an indelible mark on
me as a teenager: not just the grace of the
sacrament, but on another level the experience of the liturgy as well. As I wrote in
the confirmation program I co-authored,
Chosen (note that the target audience of
the reflection is teens…but you get the
gist):
In general grace isn’t something we
“feel.” We can smell flowers, taste burgers, shiver from a cold wind, but grace
isn’t physical so sometimes it’s not even
accompanied by strong feelings—but we
can know it’s there because Jesus told us
so. When we feel it, that’s a gift to us, often to teach us something or to strengthen us. When we don’t feel any consolation in prayer or from sacraments, God’s
asking us not to get caught up in emotion,
to deepen in faith, and to prove our love
for him by seeking him for his own sake,
not just for the positive feelings faith can
bring. All that being stated, God let me
feel the grace when I was confirmed.
I remember when the bishop anointed my forehead. As he pulled his thumb
away from my head I felt the grace hit
der of Confirmation, 59, “Prayer after
Communion”). The missionary Spirit of
the Church is an exitus into the world,
but for the purpose of gathering all nations in a reditus back to God. The sacrament of confirmation participates in
this movement, for by its grace every
Christian is given the missionary mandate to bring others into contact with the
living Christ, through cooperation with
the Holy Spirit, so that they too may become other Christs.
Time and Age
As a conclusion, a word is necessary
about the age at which confirmation
may or ought to be conferred—a topic
that has been more frequently discussed
as of late. Canon 891 states, “The sacrament of confirmation is to be conferred
on the faithful at about the age of discretion unless the conference of bishops
has determined another age…”. For the
dioceses of the United States the complementary norm governing this can
now clearly be found in the front of the
new Order of Confirmation. This United
States Conference of Catholic Bishops
“Decree of Proclamation” from 2001
states that confirmation may be “conferred between the age of discretion and
about sixteen years of age, within the
limits determined by the diocesan bishop…”, allowing each diocesan bishop to
determine the age or ages in which confirmation may be bestowed within his
own diocese.
So far, ten dioceses in the United States
have restored the order of the sacraments
of initiation so that confirmation is conferred before the Eucharist is received,
the most recent being the Archdiocese
of Denver and the Diocese of Honolulu
earlier this year. Besides the theological
precedent for such a change, there is also
magisterial latitude found in Pope Benedict XVI’s 2007 document, Sacramentum Caritatis: “…these variations [of the
order of the sacraments] are not properly
of the dogmatic order, but are pastoral in
character. Concretely, it needs to be seen
which practice better enables the faithful
to put the sacrament of the Eucharist at
the center, as the goal of the whole process of initiation…. Bishops’ Conferences should examine the effectiveness of
current approaches to Christian initiation,
so that the faithful can be helped both to
mature through the formation received in
our communities and to give their lives
an authentically eucharistic direction, so
that they can offer a reason for the hope
within them in a way suited to our times”
(Sacramentum Caritatis, 18).
Even though the new translation of
the sacramental ritual for confirmation
does not present any major changes,
it is always opportune to mystagogically reflect on the graces of this and
every sacrament. At this moment in
our lives and the life of the Church,
the new Order of Confirmation gives
us pause to do precisely that as we reread these prayers and begin to use it
in our dioceses to share with another
generation the unceasing mission of the
Church: “‘As the Father has sent me,
even so I send you.’ And when he had
said this, he breathed on them, and said
to them, ‘accipite Spiritum Sanctum’”
(Jn 20:21-22).
me like a ton of bricks. I remember it
distinctly because it wasn’t a feeling
I’ve had any other time before or since.
It was the sense of getting hit with an
enormous zap of power. I didn’t want to
laugh. I didn’t want to cry. I just stood
there speechless. I was supposed to say
“Amen” in response to his words, “Be
sealed with the Holy Spirit,” but I could
barely utter a sound.
The months after I received that sacrament I noticed an undeniable change
in the way I lived out my Catholic faith.
The happiness, love, purpose, and peace
I had from my faith became contagious.
In my junior year of high school I made
it my goal to share my faith or a Saint
story with one person per day. “Give me
someone to tell about you, Lord,” was
my constant prayer. I helped to start a
prayer and faith sharing group, recruited people to youth ministry at my parish, godfathered a peer who was baptized, stood up for the dignity of women
in the locker room, stood by those being
mocked, went to pro-life marches, and,
by the grace of God, I did it all in a way
that was strangely “cool.” Picture a
longhaired teen guitarist in the 90s with
baggy shorts talking to potheads about
Jesus, with a rosary hanging from his
belt. That was me.
My faith was no longer hidden from
the world in the “upper room” of my
heart. I wore it on my shirtsleeve. My
friends who could get so drunk they
could run through walls without feeling
it were forgotten soon after they left my
high school. They’re a dime a dozen. I
was remembered years after I left. I had
been a shining light of faith.
Such is the impact of confirmation. Even though my life was changed
through youth ministry, I never dreamt
of doing youth ministry. After surviving
teenager-hood myself I had no urge to
go back! God had other plans. I’ve given
much of my life to youth ministry, and
more specifically, to preparing kids for
confirmation. I did this as a youth minister in East LA, then by giving countless
retreats around the country for confirmandi and parents, and finally by writing
Chosen with Ascension Press, which,
thank God, is being used by thousands
of parishes and with great effect.
Here’s what I’ve learned: Confirmation prep is one of the greatest opportunities for evangelization in the Church
today. Teens in confirmation class are
there because they “have to be there.”
They don’t want to be there. They’re not
all that interested in God. Sometimes
they’re even a little angry.
Do you know how hard our evangelical brothers and sisters have to work to
find people like that? We have a captive
audience right under our noses! While
it can be difficult to work with them,
I’ve seen countless lives change. I’ve
seen teens with no interest in God end
up bringing parents back to the fold. I’ve
seen young punks become young apostles – just like me – because their parents
“made them go.”
Lives changed by sacramental grace,
liturgical encounters with Jesus Christ,
and effective catechesis.
That’s what it’s all about.
Fr. John Grant is the parochial vicar
of Holy Family Cathedral in the Diocese
of Tulsa, OK, and the assistant Director of Worship and Master of Ceremonies for the diocese. As a graduate of St.
John Vianney Seminary in Denver, Colo,
he was ordained in 2012, and more recently earned his Master’s degree from
The Liturgical Institute at the University
of Saint Mary of the Lake in Mundelein,
Ill, last May.
Chris Stefancik is an internationally
acclaimed author and speaker. He has
devoted his life to inspiring people to
live a bold, contagious faith. Archbishop
Charles J. Chaput, OFM Cap, calls Chris,
“one of the most engaging young defenders of the Christian faith on the scene today.” Chris is the author of what is being
welcomed as the best Confirmation program in the English language: Chosen.
page 5
“I wanted to do everything I could to highlight… the act of Jesus in the Mass”
– An Interview with Father Dennis Gill
By Joseph O’Brien
Managing Editor
W
hen Pope Francis comes to
Philadelphia, Sept. 25-27,
he will meet with families
from around the world at the conclusion of the World Meeting of Families.
He will also be celebrating two Masses.
The first will be celebrated on Sept. 26
at the Cathedral Basilica of Ss. Peter
and Paul, Philadelphia, and the second
on Sept. 27 on the Benjamin Franklin
Parkway. The Mass on Saturday will be
a commemoration of Our Lady, Mother
of the Church, while the Sunday Mass
will be the Mass celebrated on the 26th
Sunday of Ordinary Time.
Organizing the liturgy for these two
celebrations of the Mass has been the
work of archdiocesan liturgist Father
Dennis Gill – who has accomplished
what some might consider a superhuman feat.
Father Gill is rector and pastor of the
Cathedral Basilica of Ss. Peter and Paul,
the Mother Church of the Archdiocese
of Philadelphia, and Director of the Office for Divine Worship, for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. He was ordained
a priest on May 21, 1983 for the archdiocese and served as parochial vicar
at Nativity of Our Lord Parish, Warminster, Penn., and Our Lady of Good
Counsel Parish, Southampton, Penn.
Completing graduate studies in Sacred
Liturgy at the Catholic University of
America, Washington, D.C., and the
Pontifical Liturgical Institute of St. Anselmo, Rome, Father Gill served as Director of Liturgy at the Pontifical North
American College, Rome. He is a professor of Sacred Liturgy at St. Charles
Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia,
and lectures regularly around the country on sacred liturgy. He is the author
of the book Music in Catholic Liturgy:
A Pastoral and Theological Companion
Father Dennis Gill, the rector of the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul and head of the committees planning the liturgies for the World Meeting of Families and Pope Francis’s visit to Philadelphia in September, holds the chalice of St. John
Neumann, which the pope will use for Mass. (Sarah Webb for Catholic Philly)
to Sing to the Lord, and is working on
his next book, Ars Celebrandi: An Artful and Careful Celebration of the Eucharist, for Hillenbrand Books.
Adoremus Bulletin interviewed Father Gill by telephone from his home
in Philadelphia to find out how he organized the two papal Masses and to find
out what he learned in the process of organizing this “once in a lifetime” visit.
Adoremus Bulletin: When did you
first hear the pope was coming?
Father Dennis Gill: I don’t remember
Homily from the Order of Confirmation,
Second Edition, that may be used
during the rite.
The Apostles, who had received the
Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost
in fulfillment of the Lord’s promise, had
power to complete the work of Baptism
by the giving of the Holy Spirit, as we
read in the Acts of the Apostles. When
Saint Paul had laid his hands on certain
people who had been baptized, the Holy
Spirit came upon them, and they spoke
in tongues and prophesied.
The Bishops, as successors of the
Apostles, possess the same power and,
either in their own right or through
Priests lawfully appointed to fulfill this
ministry, they confer the Holy Spirit on
those who have already been born again
in Baptism.
Even if today the coming of the Holy
Spirit is no longer widely made manifest
by the gift of tongues, we know by faith
that the Spirit, through whom the love of
God has been poured into our hearts and
through whom we are gathered in unity
of faith and in diversity of callings, is received by us and is working invisibly to
make the Church holy and one.
Dearly beloved, the gift of the Holy
Spirit, which you are about to receive,
will be a spiritual seal, by which you
will be conformed to Christ and will be
made more fully members of his Church.
For Christ himself, anointed by the Holy
Spirit in the baptism he received from
page 6
John, was sent forth for the work of his
ministry, to pour out on the earth the fire
of the same Spirit.
Therefore, you who are already baptized will now receive the power of his
Spirit and be signed with his Cross on
your foreheads. And so, you must always
bear witness to his Passion and Resurrection before the world, so that your
manner of life, as the Apostle says, may
be in every place the pleasing fragrance
of Christ. His Mystical Body, which is
the Church, the People of God, receives
from him diverse graces, which the same
Holy Spirit distributes to individuals for
the building up of that Body in unity and
love.
Be living members of this Church,
therefore, and, under the guidance of the
Holy Spirit, seek to serve all people like
Christ, who came not to be served but to
serve.
And now, before you receive the Spirit, call to mind the faith which you professed in Baptism or which your parents and godparents professed with the
Church.
Excerpts from the English translation of the Order
of Confirmation © 2015, International Commission on
English in the Liturgy Corporation. All rights reserved.
Published with the approval of the Committee on
Divine Worship, United States Conference of Catholic
Bishops
where I was, but we had a little bit of
advance warning before Benedict XVI
went to Milan for the last World Meeting of Families in June 2012. Archbishop [Charles J. Chaput] was there
because Philadelphia was named as
the next city for the World Meeting of
Families….We had a little confusion
here when Benedict XVI named Philadelphia as the next location. He pledged
to come, but then when he resigned
Pope Francis was a little slow in letting
us know he was coming. I can’t remember exactly when he confirmed his coming...
AB: As the Director of the Office of
Divine Worship, what were your responsibilities for preparing for the papal visit?
FG: My office takes care of everything concerning the celebration of the
Sacred Liturgy from beginning to end,
with guidance from the Holy See, especially from Monsignor Guido Marini,
Master of Pontifical Liturgical Celebrations. In early September, Monsignor
Marini came to visit us to review everything and he was quite pleased with our
plans from beginning to end, and with
the work of the local Church. He will
also be serving as Master of Ceremonies for both Masses.
AB: What sort of guidance did you
receive from the Vatican in planning for
the papal Masses?
FG: Early on in the planning stages,
the Office of Liturgical Celebrations
of the Supreme Pontiff sent guidelines
and norms for liturgical celebrations
presided by the Holy Father. It’s about
11 pages, and it’s rather complete in describing how to prepare sacred vessels,
sacred vestments, liturgical music, and
the sanctuary. It’s quite detailed, and
it covers everything from the responsibilities of the person in charge (that
is, my duties) to how to assess the site,
and looking at the place, the vestments
and all other items needed for Mass. It
also looks at concelebrants, servers and
choir, and the preparation of texts. It
was very complete in what it covered.
Basically we take what’s given in the
missal itself and prepare what the missal describes and put these instructions
from the Holy See on top of that initial
layer of planning.
AB: What part did Archbishop Chaput play in the liturgical preparations?
FG: The archbishop wanted the celebrations of the Sacred Liturgy to be the
most memorable occasions of the Papal
Visit.  He basically entrusted this task
to me.  I would meet with him regularly
to give him an update and ask his opinion on questions.  He expressed relatively few preferences overall.
AB: Is it usual for the local diocesan
Church to organize the liturgy for a papal visit?
FG: Since the World Meeting of
Families was scheduled to take place
here in Philadelphia, it becomes a celebration of the local Church here to do
that – the Holy See would not be in
a position to do it because they don’t
have people on the ground here. For
me, it’s the natural way to do it. It was a
lot of work and I had fine people working with me, thank God.
AB: Who besides the archdiocese
and the Holy See are involved in the
planning process?
FG: There are three groups working
together, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, the Holy See and the USCCB
(United States Conference of Catholic
Bishops). While we would do all the
work here, we send our work off to the
USCCB and the conference sends it to
Monsignor Marini for him to sign off
on it. The collaboration has been excellent, especially with Monsignor Marini; he has been really fantastic. Because
his collaboration is so good, when he
met with us, it was more a matter of review. He made very few adjustments
because his instruction was very clear
and we’re following the General InContinued on Page 7
struction of the Roman Missal…as it is
supposed to be celebrated, so there are
no surprises.
AB: What was the division of labor
among those from the archdiocese who
worked with you in the planning process?
FG: We have a planning committee
which consists of two people who work
on sacred music, two on furnishings
and appointments, two taking care of
the sacristies, two taking care of the liturgical volunteers, and two secretarial
members of the committee. The committee is a good mixture of priests and
lay people and I have a team of priests
associated with me who are going to be
masters of ceremonies for the various
liturgies for the World Meeting of Families and other non-papal events. We
have I’d say 1,500 liturgical volunteers,
ushering and greeting in various ways
on various days. Then we have the liturgical minsters, servers, readers, and
gift bearers.
AB: How many people do you expect
at each Mass?
FG: Our cathedral holds about 1,200
and a chapel next door which holds
about 500 – so there will be about 2,000
faithful at the cathedral Mass. It’s hard
to say for the Mass on Sunday, maybe
up to a million – maybe less; maybe
more.
Mass during the 1979 visit of Pope John Paul II to Philadelphia. Philadelphia Archdiocesan Historical Research Center:
Robert and Theresa Halvey Photograph Collection
celebrated by me tomorrow or a couple
Sundays from now, when the pope celebrates it. That was a happy thing to be
reminded of, because it allows the faith
to stand out. These two celebrations of
the Mass are not so much a celebration
of a personality or an event – but of the
Catholic faith.
AB: Did Pope Francis make any personal requests regarding the liturgical
planning for the Mass?
FG: Everything was happily as we
would want and expect it to be. There
were no surprises, nothing unusual. In
fact I was pleased with just the opposite. It was a clear presentation of the
liturgy as the Church describes it, both
for the cathedral and for the Mass on
the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
AB: How will the music be provided
at these two Masses?
FG: Both celebrations will be stational [normative] Masses with a full complement of concelebrants. At the same
time, the music for both occasions will
be a little fuller than usual. The Mass on
Saturday will be sung with a 100-voice
archdiocesan choir and on Sunday it
will be sung with a 500 voice choir
(which we put together for this occasion) [with accompaniment by the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra].
AB: Besides the “universal language”
of music present at the Mass, what other languages will be used?
FG: What’s interesting is that the
Creed will be sung in Latin at the Sunday Mass on the Parkway. It’s an international occasion and Latin is the international language of the Church; it just
seems right….The Eucharistic Prayer
will also be prayed in Latin, while the
two largest groups of people coming
beside English speaking people are
Spanish and Vietnamese. So one scriptural reading will be in Spanish and one
will be in Vietnamese.
AB: Why did you choose the particular locations – the cathedral and the
Benjamin Franklin Parkway – for the
two papal Masses?
FG: The Mass on Saturday was specifically designated a Mass for the local Church, and since it is for the local
Church, it should be in the cathedral, the
Mother Church of the archdiocese. And
the Mass on Sunday is on the Parkway
in part because in 1979 when John Paul
AB: What talents and skills did you
bring to the planning process?
FG: One of the gifts I have, people
mention this to me, is that I’m a highly
organized person. You need that type of
organization to pull something like this
off, and I’m usually collaborative too.
Those two things – organization and
collaboration – working together have
helped me bring together a nice coterie
of people who have worked well together. So here we are in early September and we can say we’re in good shape
with our liturgical celebrations for the
World Meeting of Families and for
the papal Masses. There are still many
things to do but the bulk of the work is
done and we just have to live with the
anxiety of these next two weeks…
1979 Papal Visit of John Paul II to Philadelphia. Philadelphia Archdiocesan
Historical Research Center
II came to Philadelphia we celebrated
on the Parkway as well – although at
the other end of the parkway. For John
Paul II’s celebration of the Mass, the altar area was directly in front of the cathedral, but this time the altar area is in
front of [the Philadelphia Museum of
Art]. The location is central, it can accommodate a lot of the people, and it
lends it self to a beautiful setting for a
Mass outdoors.
AB: Did you learn anything about
how to prepare Philadelphia for a papal
visit from Pope John Paul II’s visit to
Philadelphia in October 1979?
FG: I happened to see the notes from
the previous visit, and for the visit of
Pope Francis, things are more detailed,
clearer and more specified for such a
huge event. I can see from the development of the notes from when John Paul
II was here to these notes with Pope
Francis’s visit, that the Holy See has
learned what works best in these large
scale celebrations. That’s why in 1979
the notes are rather sparse but in 2015
they’re rather complete.
AB: I imagine you will have quite a
treasure trove of details and notes for
the next papal visit to the City of Brotherly Love…
FG: Our plan book is about 400 pages
so the next person who is in my position
when a pope comes to visit might not be
able to use it but they’re welcomed to it.
AB: What insights did you discover
in the planning process?
FG: I was reminded over and over
again in my preparations that this was
the Mass, and the Mass has a certain
stability regardless of the place or circumstance of the celebration. That was
the context and guiding point. It was a
challenge though, because we had to
constantly keep in mind that we have a
very unusual celebrant at the Mass and
a very large congregation. Even though
the pope is celebrant and several hundred thousand – perhaps even a million
– people attending, the order of Mass
is going to be the same if the Mass is
AB: Did you feel prepared for the job
– or did you find that there was some on
the job training?
FG: The entire process was on the
job training! [Laughter] I don’t see how
anything can prepare you for this – it’s
a once in a lifetime event, and so you
have to pool your resources and collaborate with assigned people to make
it happened. This isn’t the type of thing
that could have provided much in the
way of advanced training.
AB: Had you ever worked on a project this large before?
FG: I had the good fortune of working on two of the jubilee events in
Rome with [the late] Cardinal John Patrick Foley, [President of the Pontifical
Council for Social Communications
(1984-2007)], the Jubilee for Journalists [June 4, 2000] and the Jubilee for
the Entertainment World [Dec. 17,
2000]. They were very large events,
not as large as this, but they required a
great deal of organization with a great
number of people. I was in Rome for
ten years so I had those two opportuniContinued to Page 8
page 7
ties during the Jubilee Year…. You learn
that after a while an event attended by
a hundred thousand people and one attended by a million become the same if
you organize them well.
AB: With such a large congregation,
how will you safeguard the Blessed
Sacrament against abuse and desecration during the distribution of Communion?
FG: The order of the procession and
the training by instruction of the priests
and deacons distributing Communion
will facilitate a very reverent and careful distribution of the Body and Blood
of our Lord. At Communion, the deacons and priests will be accompanied
by ushers who will each be carrying a
yellow and white umbrella, and they
will lead the priests and deacons to the
Communion stations. The priests and
deacons will also have received instructions as to the proper distribution.
We’re hoping to have up to a thousand
clergy distributing Holy Communion
(and we won’t have extraordinary ministers because we’ll obviously have sufficient priests and deacons). The clergy
have been instructed not to distribute
more than one host per person and have
been given other precautions like that,
so that Holy Communion as much as
Participants during the 1979 papal Mass. Philadelphia Archdiocesan Historical Research Center: Robert and Theresa
Halvey Photograph Collection
Papal Visits to the US Four popes have visited the
United States:
Pope Paul VI - 1965
Pope John Paul II – 1979; 1981; 1984;
1987; 1993; 1995; 1999
Pope Benedict XVI – 2008
Pope Francis – 2015
possible will be guaranteed to be a very
reverent distribution of the Body and
Blood of the Lord. We have been working very hard on this and answering
letters from people who have the same
concern. There should be a very reverent and careful distribution of communion – there must be.
AB: Will there be indulgences provided for those who attend these papal
Masses?
FG: While it hasn’t arrived yet, we
do expect indulgences to be provided.
Typically, there is an indulgence in participating in an international liturgical
event like this one – with the proper
features of the indulgence in place, such
as no attachment to sin, praying for the
Holy Father, and receiving Communion
and the sacrament of penance within the
framework of the event. The indulgence
comes by participation in the World
Meeting of Families and under the usual
conditions, but we’re waiting for an official announcement of the indulgence.
It usually comes a week or two before
the event.
AB: Why are indulgences such an important part of these two papal Masses?
FG: Indulgences are provided so that
page 8
people might benefit from this particular work of the Church in terms of their
own salvation and the souls in purgatory. Like every good work of the Church,
it has an effect outside of ourselves –
and also for ourselves into the next life.
It’s another way of demonstrating that
this is an ecclesial event that has a real
impact on our Christian lives and obtaining the promise of heaven.
AB: What has been the most rewarding aspect of the planning process?
FG: Working with people so committed to the celebration of the sacred liturgy. I’ve really enjoyed that. I’m someone who is passionate about the liturgy
and its authentic celebration and when
all of a sudden you run into another
person with the same zeal, it’s very encouraging. Sometimes you think you’re
alone.
AB: And the most challenging?
FG: The most challenging aspect has
been keeping the focus on Christ.
AB: What sort of advice would you
give your counterpart in another diocese about preparation for a visit from
the pope?
FG: There are three things you need
to have in place. The first is faith. This
Mass has to be an event of faith. It
could very easily become just a very
large event, but it’s more than that. It’s
the coming together of Catholics for a
reason, to reflect on the Christian family, what it is and its renewal. So faith
is a very important point and it needs to
be at the beginning and end of everything that is going to be done. Second,
there needs to be excellent communication among everyone who is involved.
Third, there has also has got to be great
organization.
AB: How is this “event of faith” also
an opportunity for catechesis and evangelization?
FG: All the work we’re doing reminds
me that there’s still so much more to do
as far as helping people understand the
Eucharist, what the Mass is, and how
everything is directed toward it and
flows from it. We say that about the
Eucharist (and people in general don’t
have a felt sense of the Eucharist in that
way) – and I found that understanding
of the Mass necessary in planning and
preparing for such a large Eucharist.
For many Catholics in general, there’s
a superficial understanding of the Mass.
In preparing for the Holy Eucharist on
both these occasions, I wanted to do everything I could to highlight the Mass,
the Eucharistic prayer, the act of Jesus
in the Mass, for Catholics and in a sense
for non-Catholics, but especially for
Catholics.
AB: How does the liturgy – these two
papal Masses – differ from everything
else accompanying the pope’s visit later
this month?
FG: There are so many parts of this
visit that are wonderful, exciting and
enjoyable, but the liturgy is the only
event that has a divine power within it
and is associated with it. The Mass is
the event of our Lord’s death and resurrection, and that is why the role of the
liturgy is so significant, for any event,
really. I do get a little annoyed that
there’s so much “papolotry” going on
– everything is about the pope. But it’s
not. We love and respect the pope, but
the pope is not the Savior. I find that
hard to get across to some people sometimes. It’s great that he’s coming; he’s
the Vicar of Christ and the Successor of
Peter, but what he’s celebrating on that
Sunday a few weeks from now, we celebrate on the altar as well this Sunday,
next Sunday and every other Sunday
of the year everywhere throughout the
world – namely, Christ.
Creation, Grace, and the Liturgy
The Editors
I
n perhaps one of his most memorable lines to date, the Holy Father encouraged pastors to “smell like their
sheep.” But what does a sheep smell
like? Jesus was called the “Lamb of
God” by John the Baptist. Long before
Jesus, and by way of foreshadowing his
coming, Abel offered a lamb; the life of
Isaac was rescued by a ram; the firstborn of the Chosen People were ransomed by a lamb.
Would it make any difference to faith
whether one had ever seen (or smelled)
a lamb up close? Would liturgical participation in the Mass—also known as
the “wedding feast of the Lamb” (Rev.
19:9)—be changed with a greater familiarity with these creatures?
Lambs, it must be said, are not the
only creatures of nature that have some
bearing on the life of faith. As the
Catechism says, “God speaks to man
through the visible creation. The material cosmos is so presented to man’s
intelligence that he can read there traces
of its Creator. Light and darkness, wind
and fire, water and earth, the tree and its
fruit speak of God and symbolize both
his greatness and his nearness. Inasmuch as they are creatures, these perceptible realities can become means of
expressing the action of God who sanctifies men, and the action of men who
offer worship to God” (nn.1147-8).
The Church’s liturgy recognizes creation’s role in worship, how nature
speaks of God and, with us, to God.
The liturgical hymn Te Deum, for example, sung at the conclusion of the Office of Readings on Sundays, Solemnities, and Feasts, begins, “You are God:
we praise you; you are the Lord: we
acclaim you; you are the eternal Father:
all creation worships you.” Similarly,
the Canticle of Daniel sung at Morning Prayer on Sundays (weeks I and
III, especially), commands all of creation—sun and moon, stars of heaven,
shower and dew, ice and snow, birds of
the air, beasts wild and tame—to bless
the Lord.
In her sacraments, the Church likewise recognizes the natural basis of
her supernatural actions. Long before
water does its supernatural duty in baptism, it has natural reality and purpose,
cleansing and giving natural life, for
example. So, too, with many other elements. Again, from the Catechism:
“The sacraments of the Church do not
abolish but purify and integrate all the
richness of the signs and symbols of the
cosmos…” (n.1152).
There exists, then, a legitimate liturgical concern about nature and creation,
for upon these foundations are built the
supernatural realities of the new creation in Christ. As liturgical scholar
Aidan Kavanagh once quipped, the
baptismal font “contains what is called
‘living water’ not because things grow
in it but because it moves to give life to
those who lie in death’s bonds.”
With these reflections in mind,
brought to the fore by the Holy Father’s
encyclical Laudato Si and the recent
“World Day of Prayer for the Care of
Creation,” another appropriate and oftcited piece (at least in liturgical circles)
deserves revisiting. Virgil Michel, pioneer of the liturgical movement in the
United States, was the founder of the
liturgical periodical Orate Fratres in
1926 (the same publication exists today
under the title of Worship). It is noteworthy, too, that he and other liturgical
figures of the last century were also interested in rural, “natural” living: Virgil Michel was a great supporter of the
National Rural Life Conference which
began in 1923. (Another proponent of
life—Father Paul Marx, OSB, founder
of Human Life International and fellow
Collegeville Benedictine—wrote the
biography of Virgil Michel in 1957).
In 1938, Father Michel penned the
following piece, “City of Farm” (excerpts, below) not only for its own relevance to the life of grace generally,
but as a topic supremely relevant to the
celebration of and participation in the
Church’s sacred liturgy. Even though
Father Michel will, as you will read, answer for the farm, it must be acknowledged at the same time that the city is
also a key locus for the Christian faith.
It is toward the heavenly city of Jerusalem that we journey (Rev. 21:2). Also,
while Vigil Michel’s American city of
1938 has many similarities to the city
of 2015, it was, admittedly, a city at the
end of the Great Depression. Still, even
if historically Christianity flourished
first in the cities, Christian liturgy “is
rooted” (CCC, n.1145) in the rural areas: grace builds upon nature, where
cult and agriculture share the same soil.
Do not some of Dom Virgil’s (and
Pope Francis’s) reflections on nature
have some significance to our liturgical
understanding today?
“City or Farm”
By Virgil Michel, OSB
I
n the idealism of my high school
days I attempted poetry, like every
enterprising youth. All I remember
at present of these attempts is the following stanza:
O’er the hills and through the meadows
Sparkling in the dewy morn
Softly stood a gurgling brooklet
Near the place where I was born.
The reason why
I remember these
lines is that older persons took
them literally and
thought I had been
born in the country. Alas, I was
not so fortunate,
for I was born in a
population center Virgil Michel,
of several hundred Courtesy of St. John’s
Abbey Archives
thousand: There
was no pastoral brook about, only a dirty river and
dirtier gutters and muddy pre-pavement
streets. […]
Mystic Lamb, detail from the Ghent Altarpice, by Jan van Eyck (d.1441)
Now the general atmosphere of the large
city is not one of natural or spontaneous
life but rather of artificial and mechanical conformities. One gets along best in
it if one becomes most completely a cog
in the large machine of city ways. And
so one absorbs a general outlook and approach to things that is quite contrary
to that of Christianity which functions
through and through on the concept of
life, of natural life reborn and nurtured in
a supernatural life.
Insofar as a man lives close to the soil
he is in all his contacts governed by and
cooperating with the functions of life.
Insofar as a man lives in a modern city he
is quite removed from the more common
phenomena of life. Is not that why it was
found necessary last year [1937] to drive
a cow through a congested city streets on
a truck in order that many citizens might
get at least a fleeting glimpse of that animal? And as to other animals and plants
and trees, the large-city dwellers of little
means (i.e., the great majority) come in
contact with them only through isolated
parks or botanical or zoological gardens.
In other words, these abundant phenomena of life are something quite special in
a year’s existence, something removed
from the conditions of home and home
activity. They are to a city man’s home
life what art is to it when seen only in
museums. They form no part of his daily
contacts, they are experienced only in artificial surroundings.
Under such circumstances, how can
Photo by Joseph O’Brien
The true Christian life, the liturgical
life, is not something contrary to human
nature, or to nature in general, but rather
something in full harmony with nature
at its best, including human nature. The
truth that grace presupposes nature is almost too trite to mention in this regard.
there be an easy intelligent appreciation and understanding of the liturgical
or Christian supernatural life, when the
God-given basis of this life in the domain
of nature is absent? It is for such reasons
that we must look upon the lives of so
many Christian children in the artificial
and mechanical atmosphere of the large
city as a real calamity. Where in their
lives is the opportunity for abundant exercise of the natural virtues of justice and
love, of tender cooperation with living
things? […]
The children of such city congestion
have no opportunity of exercising the
legitimate domination of man over his
environment, except by acts of destruction, by breaking both laws and things,
or else by bullying their fellows. Compare this with the opportunities of the
land, where children from youngest days
up can do many a contributory family
chore, can exercise all the Christian virtues through the tender care of life, of
young plants and animals. Thus youthful
goodness in the city must consist chiefly
of mechanical conformity or almost unlimited restriction, while in the country
it proceeds creatively as a growth from
within through voluntary and pleasurable
exercise of positive responsibilities in the
development or other betterment of different forms of life.
Herein, we can see the immense importance of every “back to the land” movement, such as is sponsored, e.g., by the
Catholic Rural Life Conference and the
distributist-agrarian movement already
mentioned in these pages. There is no
questions primarily of turning as many
city dwellers as possible into “dirt” farmers, much less of promoting and increasing what is known and criticized as commercial or industrialized farming. The
question is first of all one of decentralization of the present artificial city congestions, of bringing people back closer to
nature, regardless of their professions in
life. It is not first of all a question of city
or farm, but of unnatural life as against a
normal life close to nature.
The back-to-the-land movement is
therefore not at all merely an economic
question, even if this aspect of it is highly
important in our depression era. Much
more significant is its importance and
meaning for Christian life and for a genuine Catholic revival. The latter is necessarily a revival in terms of an intelligent participation in the corporate supernatural life of Christ, and for this a more
truly natural life is indispensable. And
so the question of city or farm is really a
question of restoring the natural basis of
Christian living for the greater flourishing of the supernatural Christ-life among
men. (Orate Fratres, Vol.12, 1937-38,
pp.367-9. This entry is reprinted here
with the kind permission of Liturgical
Press.)
page 9
LETTERS
Hymns for the
Liturgy of the
Hours Revisited
Thank you for Adam
Bartlett’s most informative article on hymns in the Liturgy of the Hours (LOH) in the
July 2015 Adoremus Bulletin.
Let me mention also the useful resource 
Exsultemus: Rejoicing with God in the Hymns
of the Roman Breviary (2002)
by 
Martin D. O’Keefe, SJ,
that is published by and available from the Institute of Jesuit
Sources (jesuitsources.bc.edu).
For each of the almost 300
Latin hymns in the 1974 Liturgia Horarum, Father O’Keefe
provides a dignified and reverent translation that is both suitable for recitation in English and
sufficiently accurate to serve as
a reliable guide to understanding for one who wishes to recite
these office hymn-prayers in
the original Latin but is not adequately versed in classical Latin poetry to do so without such
assistance for comprehension.
The Latin and English versions
of each hymn are attractively
printed in parallel columns to
facilitate visual correspondence
between them.
Pending the projected 2020
availability of the new English translation of the Liturgy
of the Hours – which for some
time seems to have remained on
the horizon a steady five years
in the future – there may not
be another comparable source
that includes in a single handy
Latin-English volume the totality of LOH hymns for all seven
hours of the divine office – the
Office of Readings and Night
Prayer as well as Morning and
Evening Prayer and the three
daytime hours.
Henry Edwards
Alcoa, Tenn.
Adam Bartlett Responds:
Dear Henry,
Thank you for the kind note,
and l’m glad that you enjoyed
the article. And thank you also
for bringing the book Exultemus to my attention. I had not
seen it before, but after looking
into it I can see that it would
make a wonderful companion
to the Liber Hymnarius, especially for those who are in need
of help in comprehending the
Latin poetic texts. I will gladly
add this to my library!  
Further thoughts
on the Liturgy of
the Hours
translation
To the Editor:
In your Letter section of
the July issue of the Bulletin
you treat the matter of the new
translation of the Liturgy of the
Hours. Is it also planned to correct some strange theology?
The following two certainly
need revision:
page 10
From the Intercessions in
Evening Prayer, Wednesday,
Week III: “Be merciful to the
faithful departed, keep them
from the power of the Evil
One.”
From the Intercessions in
Evening Prayer, Friday, the
same week: “You opened Paradise to the thief who believed
in you, do not close the gates of
heaven to the faithful departed.”
Are these really what the
original Latin expresses? I
hope not.
And while the revisers are
at it, a grammarian could help
them. In English, collective
nouns take singular verbs. The
Te Deum needs this correction.
Father David Welter
Houston, Minn.
Adoremus responds:
The relationship between
prayer and belief, while always
in the Church’s mind, is a truth
emphasized today, especially
in light of the unique challenge
of liturgical inculturation. Pius
XII spoke of the relationship
between the law or prayer and
the law of belief in his 1947
Encyclical Mediator Dei (nos.
46-48), and today’s Catechism
likewise reminds us of the maxim, Legem credendi lex statuat
supplicandi: “Let the law of
prayer establish the law of belief” (CCC, n.1124). In short,
it matters how one prays, especially liturgically, for these
words express and foster the
Church’s belief.
Are the petitions to “keep [the
faithful departed] from the power of the Evil One” and to “not
close the gates of heaven to the
faithful departed” a clear orandi
of the Church’s credendi? Do
they adequately expresses the
Paschal character of death and
the Church’s duty to “ask [God]
to purify his child of his sins
and their consequences, and to
admit him to the Paschal fullness of the table of the Kingdom” (CCC, n.1689)?
Whether these translations
do or do not do justice to the
Church’s belief about praying
for the dead, this much is certain: both texts – neque in potestatem maligni spiritus tradas
eos and noli defunctis nostris
caeli claudere portas – will be
translated anew using the principles of Liturgiam Authenticam and will be different.
Liturgiam Authenticam also
speaks of the translation of
nouns, although briefly. To be
avoided, it says, “is the systematic resort to imprudent solutions such as a mechanical substitution of words, the transition
from the singular to the plural,
the splitting of a unitary collective term into masculine and
feminine parts, or the introduction of impersonal or abstract
words” (n.31). The Ratio translationis, the accompanying
document
that
applies
Liturgiam Authenticam’s principles to the English language,
may have further principles on
this point.
R E A D E R S ’ F O RU M
Replenishing
Holy Water
In our parish I was told if I get
holy water from the holy water
tank in the back of the church,
I am to get only about 1/4 of
holy water in my container and
fill the rest up with water from
the tap and it will all be holy
water.  Also I was to put the
same amount of water from the
tap into the holy water tank to
replace what I have taken so it
won’t go empty.  What would
it be like in time?  Holy Water? 
Plain water?  I have never heard
of such a practice.  What does
the Church teach about this?
Betty Kovacevick
Auburn, WA
The 1917 Code of Canon Law
allows adding ordinary water to
holy water. Canon 757 §2 provides that if the blessed water in
a baptismal font seems insufficient for a Baptism, unblessed
water may be added, but the
added water must be less than
the amount of blessed water in
the font.
There is a similar provision
for blessed oil in Canon 734
§2. If the amount of oil is insufficient for anointing, plain olive
oil may be added as long as the
added amount is less than the
remaining blessed oil.
These provisions are not repeated in the 1983 Code, but
they seem to be still valid. In
his book The Liturgical Question Box (Ignatius Press, 1998)
Monsignor (now Bishop) Peter
J. Elliott answers a question
similar to yours:
“What would you say of the
old practice of adding unblessed
water to holy water, which was
thereby blessed if the quantity of
added water was less than that
already in the container?” (p.
157).
The author answers that
there was general permission
for this, possibly because the
rite for blessing water was rather long. He believes, however,
that now the practice of adding
unblessed water to holy water is
“redundant.” The Rite of Mass
allows for the Rite of Blessing
and Sprinkling of Water to be
used in place of the Penitential Act at a Sunday Mass. On
a day when this rite is used, a
large enough quantity could be
blessed to address the needs of
the parish for a period of time.
It is also possible to bless water
outside of Mass.
Applying this to the advice
you received, it seems that adding a small amount of plain water (equal to the amount of holy
water that was transferred to a
small bottle) to the much larger amount in the tank would
be permissible. But adding an
amount of plain water which
is three times the amount of
holy water to the bottle would
not. Keeping the tank supplied
with holy water blessed by a
priest (or deacon) would seem
to be the preferred practice.
–Susan Benofy
Celebrating
Beauty
Many thanks for your superb
coverage and photos of St.
Thomas Aquinas Church in
Lincoln, Neb. How wonderful
to view such glorious stainedglass windows in a new church.
Bravo for the return of beauty to
our church!
Father Richard Beligotti
Venice, FL
We certainly appreciated the article in your last edition about
the Newman Center complex at
the University of Nebraska.
Eunice and Leon Cyr
Fowler, IN
A Life of Learning
Please accept my donation for
the Bulletin. I love the Adoremus Bulletin and learn a lot
from it. I’m 86, a cradle-Catholic, and practice my faith. I pass
on the Adoremus Bulletin when
I’m through with it.
Rita Schulties
Germantown, WI
Questions of Faith
What does the
Church legislate
about using nogluten or lowgluten hosts?
The USCCB’s Committee on
Divine Worship, incorporating
directives from the Holy See,
offers the following, pastoral
teaching.
Celiac disease is an immune
reaction to eating gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, and
rye. For those with the disease,
eating gluten triggers an immune response in the small intestine. Over time, this immune
reaction damages the small intestine’s lining and hinders absorption of some nutrients. The
intestinal damage often causes
stomach pain, diarrhea, and
weight loss, and can lead to serious complications. A Mayo
Clinic-led analysis published
in 2012 estimates that roughly
1.8 million Americans have the
disease, but around 1.4 million
of them are unaware that they
have it.
Given the serious health risk
for those suffering gluten intolerance, it is important for
pastors and other Church leaders not only to be aware of the
reality, but prepared to address
the situation of Catholics with
celiac disease who come to
parishes and seek to receive
Holy Communion in a safe,
sensitive, and compassionate
manner….
The most recent Church
teaching on the use of mustum
and low-gluten hosts at Mass
remains the letter from thenCardinal Joseph Ratzinger on
July 24, 2003 (Prot. n. 89/7817498), which was addressed
to the Presidents of Conferences of Bishops. In that letter,
pastors and the faithful are reminded that for bread to be valid matter for the Eucharist, it
must be made solely of wheat,
contain enough gluten to effect
the confection of bread, be free
of foreign materials, and unaffected by any preparation or
baking methods which would
alter its nature. The amount
of gluten necessary for validity in such bread is not determined by minimum percentage
or weight, though hosts which
have no gluten are considered
invalid matter for Mass. (In
the Roman Rite, the bread prepared for the Eucharist must
also be unleavened.)…
The lay faithful who are not
able to receive Holy Communion at all under the species
of bread, even of low-gluten
hosts, may receive Holy Communion under the species of
wine only, regardless of whether the Precious Blood is offered
to the rest of the faithful present at a given celebration of
Mass….
As a best practice, it is recommended that individuals
with gluten and/or alcohol intolerance arrange through their
parish the purchase of any
low-gluten hosts or mustum.
This facilitates the oversight
and good stewardship of the
pastor who is responsible as
mentioned above. It also “normalizes” the practice for the
communicant, as well as keeping the purchase of liturgical
supplies together in the parish
budget.
It is also worth recalling that,
through the doctrine of concomitance, the Church teaches that under either species
of bread or wine, the whole
Christ is received (cf. General
Instruction of the Roman Missal, no. 282; Catechism of the
Catholic Church, no. 1390).
Thus, the faithful may be confident in the Real Presence of
Christ in the Eucharist they receive, even under only one or
the other species.
(For a fuller response, see
the Committee on Divine Worship’s Celiac Disease, Alcohol
Intolerance, And the Church’s
Pastoral Response.)
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Holy Family by Juan Simon Gutierrez (d.1718)
Prayer for the Synod on the Family
Pope Francis
Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
in you we contemplate
the splendor of true love,
to you we turn with trust.
Holy Family of Nazareth,
grant that our families too
may be places of communion and prayer,
authentic schools of the Gospel
and small domestic Churches.
may families never again
experience violence, rejection and division:
may all who have been hurt or scandalized
find ready comfort and healing.
may the approaching Synod of Bishops
make us once more mindful
of the sacredness and inviolability of the family,
and its beauty in God’s plan.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
graciously hear our prayer.
Pope Francis on the Sacrament of Confirmation
General Audience of January 29, 2014
I
n this third catechesis on the Sacraments, we pause to reflect on confirmation or “Chrismation” which must
be understood in continuity with baptism, to which it is inseparably linked.
These two Sacraments, together with the
Eucharist, form a single saving event —
called “Christian initiation” — in which
we are inserted into Jesus Christ, who
died and rose, and become new creatures
and members of the Church. This is why
these three sacraments were originally
celebrated on one occasion, at the end
of the catechumenal journey, normally at
the Easter Vigil. The path of formation
and gradual insertion into the Christian
community, which could last even up to
a few years, was thus sealed. One trav-
page 12
elled step by step to reach baptism, then
confirmation and the Eucharist.
We commonly speak of the sacrament
of “Chrismation,” a word that signifies
“anointing.” And, in effect, through the
oil called “sacred Chrism” we are conformed, in the power of the Spirit, to Jesus Christ, who is the only true “anointed One,” the “Messiah,” the Holy One
of God. The word “confirmation” then
reminds us that this sacrament brings
an increase and deepening of baptismal
grace: it unites us more firmly to Christ,
it renders our bond with the Church more
perfect, and it gives us a special strength
of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend
the faith, ... to confess the name of Christ
boldly, and never to be ashamed of his
Cross (cf. Catechism of the Catholic
Church, n. 1303).
For this reason, it is important to take
care that our children, our young people,
receive this sacrament. We all take care
that they are baptized and this is good,
but perhaps we do not take so much care
to ensure that they are confirmed. Thus
they remain at a midpoint in their journey and do not receive the Holy Spirit,
who is so important in the Christian life
since he gives us the strength to go on.*
Let us think a little, each one of us: do
we truly care whether our children, our
young people, receive confirmation?
This is important, it is important! And if
you have children or adolescents at home
who have not yet received it and are at
the age to do so, do everything possible
to ensure that they complete their Christian initiation and receive the power of
the Holy Spirit. It is important!
Naturally it is important to prepare
those being confirmed well, leading
them towards a personal commitment to
faith in Christ and reawakening in them
a sense of belonging to the Church.
Confirmation, like every sacrament,
is not the work of men but of God, who
cares for our lives in such a manner as to
mold us in the image of his Son, to make
us capable of loving like him. He does it
by infusing in us his Holy Spirit, whose
action pervades the whole person and his
entire life, as reflected in the seven gifts
that tradition, in light of the sacred scripture, has always highlighted. These seven gifts: I do not want to ask you if you
remember the seven gifts. Perhaps you
will all know them.... But I will say them
on your behalf. What are these gifts?
Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, and Fear of the
Lord. And these gifts have been given to
us precisely with the Holy Spirit in the
sacrament of confirmation. I therefore
intend to dedicate the catecheses that
follow those on the Sacrament to these
seven gifts.
When we welcome the Holy Spirit into
our hearts and allow him to act, Christ
makes himself present in us and takes
shape in our lives; through us, it will be
he — Christ himself — who prays, forgives, gives hope and consolation, serves
the brethren, draws close to the needy
and to the least, creates community and
sows peace. Think how important this is:
by means of the Holy Spirit, Christ himself comes to do all this among us and
for us. That is why it is important that
children and young people receive the
sacrament of confirmation.
Dear brothers and sisters, let us remember that we have received confirmation! All of us! Let us remember it, first
in order to thank the Lord for this gift,
and then to ask him to help us to live as
true Christians, to walk always with joy
in the Holy Spirit who has been given to
us.
*On the place of the Holy Spirit and his
gifts at confirmation, a fuller treatment
is given in the Catechism of the Catholic
Church, nos. 1285-1321, which begins:
“It must be explained to the faithful that
the reception of the sacrament of Confirmation is necessary for the completion of
baptismal grace. For ‘by the sacrament
of Confirmation, [the baptized] are more
perfectly bound to the Church and are
enriched with a special strength of the
Holy Spirit. Hence they are, as true witnesses of Christ, more strictly obliged to
spread and defend the faith by word and
deed’” (n.1285).

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