Adult Confirmation deepens baptismal grace

Friday, May. 27, 2016

SANDY— Ruth Miller, parishioner of St. Thomas More Catholic Parish, is in the process of being Confirmed in the Catholic Church.

With Baptism and Holy Communion, Confirmation is one of the three Sacraments of Initiation. 

“Confirmation brings an increase and deepening of baptismal grace – it roots us more deeply in the divine filiation which makes us cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

On June 4 the Sacrament of Confirmation for adult Catholics (no younger than 17 years of age) will be celebrated at the Cathedral of the Madeleine.

Miller will be joining Catholics from all over the Diocese of Salt Lake City who for various reasons have not yet been confirmed and are now seeking the Sacrament of Confirmation.

A cradle Catholic, Miller was away from the Church for some years. Her 6-year-old daughter brought her back to attending Mass.

“One day she asked me if I could take her to church so she could learn more about God. … Father John [Evans, pastor of St. Thomas More Parish] told me that so many people get back to the Church by their children through the Holy Spirit, and I have come to realize that that’s true,” said Miller, but still she felt she something was missing.

Two years ago while she was sponsoring her mother through the RCIA program as she converted to the Catholic faith, Miller came to the realization that she herself needed to be sacramentally in order.

“I had just come back to the Church a few years before that,” said Miller. “I went to the whole process with my mom, but someone else was the sponsor at the end because I was not ready,” referring to the fact that she had not received the Sacrament of Confirmation and her marriage was not yet convalidated.

So she decided to get back on track.

“Through the whole process of coming back to the Church and all that, after 30-plus years of hiding, finding that I wanted to be spiritually sacramentally in line really touched me,” said Miller

Catholics who exchange marriage vows only in the presence of ministers from other religious traditions or civic officials are not considered validly married by the Catholic Church, but these couples may seek later to have their union officially recognized by the Church; this is known as convalidation of a marriage. 

Miller and her husband had their marriage convalidated on Dec. 8, the same date that the liturgical year started.

“So I saw it as a new beginning. I knew and felt the importance of our marriage to be blessed and I was able to receive Communion again,” said Miller.

She also felt the need to be more involved in the Church, and is considering becoming an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion,  “but I realize I needed to be confirmed, so now I am making sure that everything is ready,” said Miller.

This year, the Confirmation celebration at the Cathedral of the Madeleine will be bilingual. 

“Like Baptism which it completes, Confirmation is given only once, for it too imprints on the soul an indelible spiritual mark, the ‘character,’ which is the sign that Jesus Christ has marked a Christian with the seal of his Spirit by clothing him with power from on high so that he may be his witness,” reads the Catechism of the Catholic Church.