Reflections on the Restoration of the Original Order of the Sacraments of Initiation

It wasn’t my idea to move the Diocese of Honolulu to restore the original order of the sacraments of initiation—Baptism, Confirmation, and First Communion. Several members of my staff con-spired (put their awareness of the Spirit together!) to present to me the idea of celebrating the sacrament of Confirmation at the beginning of the age of reason, or basically in the second grade. I enjoyed Confirmations with the teens, and I found so many of them to be genuinely moved by the celebration of the sacrament. Yet once my staff brought the matter to me, explained it, and offered to engage in the arduous process of making a change, they convinced me that this was the way to go. Other dioceses had already moved the sacrament of Confirmation from adolescent years to just before the First Communion of little ones, so I knew there were sound reasons for restoring this original order of the sacraments of initiation.

Basically, I consented to this shift for two reasons: It is clear that the Church intended this order from the beginning; and it puts the emphasis on God’s action and grace rather than our own.

First, as I read the many documents of the Church regarding the sacraments of initiation, I could not find one that ordered them as Baptism, First Communion, then Confirmation. All of them refer to the original order of Baptism, Confirmation, and First Communion. [An aside: Some people speak of “First Eucharist” rather than “First Communion,” but I believe the latter is the better description of the sacrament of initiation for a baptized person. Only a catechumen, who is unbaptized, is dismissed before the celebration of the Eucharist. A baptized child, who is not a catechumen, is presumed to have participated in many Eucharists before receiving First Communion.]

Secondly, I was inspired by my staff to engage in shifting a cultural mentality so that the first commandment could indeed be the first, putting God above ourselves and our own human desires, no matter how noble they might be. When the people of the diocese heard about this change in direction, they were confused, and I thought there would be many protests. Yet when the reasons were explained to them, the Holy Spirit did indeed work among them, and they embraced the restored original order of the sacraments of initiation.

How many times have we heard that Confirmation is a sacrament of Christian maturity which a person freely chooses to indicate a dedication to living the faith? This emphasizes what I do, rather than what God is doing in me. “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you,” was Jesus’ way of stating the matter (John 15:16), and that seems to contradict what many of our teens have been taught to profess when “choosing” to be confirmed. Without imputing any bad motives on the part of those who profess this belief in our choice above all else, it seems to play into a consumer mentality. “I choose to be a faithful Christian, therefore I need to ‘get’ Confirmation.” The fact of the matter, however, is that anyone who is baptized has already been chosen by God to live the divine life in his or her human life. Just as we do not normally choose what family or what nation we will be born into, so we are chosen by God to be members of his family once we are immersed in God’s very Name in Baptism (“I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”).

Although the gift of the Holy Spirit is first poured out upon us in Baptism—signified by the post-Baptismal anointing with Chrism – it is sealed in the sacrament of Confirmation. While any analogy is inadequate in itself to fully explain a reality, I think of a shepherd purchasing a lamb. From the moment he purchases it, the lamb belongs to him. But at some point, to make sure that everyone is able to distinguish...