The Book of Common Prayer in the Second Office of Instruction, page 291 asks: “What is your bounden duty as a member of the Church?” The answer given is, “My bounden duty is to follow Christ, to worship God every Sunday in his Church, and to work and pray and give for the spread of his kingdom.” The question is then asked, “What special means does the Church provide to help you to do all these things”. The answer given is, “The Church provides the Laying on of Hands, or Confirmation, wherein, after renewing the promises and vows of my Baptism, and declaring my loyalty and devotion to Christ as my Master, I receive the strengthening gifts of the Holy Spirit.” The person about to be confirmed by the Bishop is then asked, “After you have been confirmed, what great privilege doth our Lord provide for you?" The answer given to this question is, “Our Lord provides the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion, for the continual strengthening and refreshing of my soul”. Then the question is asked on page 293, “What is required of those who come to the Lord’s Supper?” The person to be confirmed agrees with the church that “It is required of those who come to the Lord’s Super to examine themselves, whether they repent them truly of their former sins, with stedfast purpose to lead a new life; to have a lively faith in God’s mercy through Christ, with a thankful remembrance of his death; and to be in charity with all men.”

In the exhortation on page 85 of the Book of Common Prayer, the following is stated, “Dearly beloved in the Lord, ye who mind to come to the holy Communion of the Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ, must consider how Saint Paul exhorteth all persons diligently to try and examine themselves, before they presume to eat of that Bread, and drink of that Cup. For the benefit is great, if with a true penitent heart and lively faith we receive that holy Sacrament; so is the danger great, if we receive the same unworthily. Judge therefore yourselves, brethren, that ye be not judged of the Lord; repent you truly for your sins past; have a lively and stedfast faith in Christ our Saviour; amend your lives, and be in perfect charity with all men; so shall ye be meet partakers of those holy mysteries”.

Question: When the priest finds that someone is not doing this and is still coming to the Communion Rail in spite of exhortation, does he have the right to deny the sacrament to that person? The answer is “Yes, he does” and has not only the right but also the duty to do so for the health of that person’s soul, calling him or her to faithful repentance. Faithfully yours, Fr. C.T. Holland

Religious Instruction: Holy Confirmation, Part III. This concludes a three part series of instruction on the Sacrament of Confirmation, comparing our traditional Anglican teaching as found in the Book of Common Prayer with the Catechism of the Catholic Church as requested by our House of Bishops. So far, we have seen a remarkable convergence of both liturgical and theological understanding between the two.

As we have seen, our Offices of Instruction, as brief as they are in the Book of Common Prayer, never depart from traditional Catholic theology and liturgical practice as exemplified in The Catechism of the Catholic Church.

The Second Office of Instruction in the Book of Common Prayer asks, What is your bounden duty as a member of the Church? The answer given is, My bounden duty is to follow Christ, to worship God every Sunday in his Church; and to work and pray, and give for the spread of his kingdom. The question is then asked, What special means does the Church provide to help you to do all these things? The response is, The Church provides the Laying on of Hands, or Confirmation, wherein, after renewing the promises and vows of my Baptism, and declaring my loyalty and devotion to Christ as my Master, I receive the strengthening gifts of the Holy Spirit. To help us do this, the Catechism of the Catholic Church says, 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.

The next question asked in the Prayer Book is, After you have been confirmed, what great privilege doth our Lord provide for you? The answer given is, Our Lord provides the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, or Holy Communion, for the continual strengthening and refreshing of my soul. The Catechism of the Catholic Church informs us that The Holy Eucharist completes Christian initiation. Those who have been raised to the dignity of the royal priesthood by Baptism and configured more deeply to Christ by Confirmation participate with the whole community in the Lord’s own sacrifice by means of the Eucharist.

Normally Anglicans do not present young children for Confirmation but defer it until the “Age of Reason”. Why? Because as the Catechism clearly states, A candidate for Confirmation who has attained the age of reason must profess the faith, be in the state of grace, have the intention of receiving the sacrament, and be prepared to assume the role of disciple and witness to Christ…..

Note: there may be an addendum next week. Faithfully yours, Fr. Clayton Holland

Religious Instruction: In both the Roman Catholic and the Anglican Churches there is in the Administration of the Sacrament of Holy Confirmation, a prayer for the Sevenfold Gifts of the Holy Spirit. The current Roman Catholic Prayer by the Bishop is given here as printed in The Catechism of the Catholic Church.

All-powerful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, by water and the Holy Spirit you freed your sons and daughters from sin and gave them new life. Send your Holy Spirit upon them to be their helper and guide. Give them the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of right judgment and courage, the spirit of knowledge and reverence. Fill them with the spirit of wonder and awe in your presence. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Notice now the similarities in the Anglican Service.

Almighty and ever living God, who hast vouchsafed to regenerate these thy servants by water and the Holy Ghost, and hast given unto them forgiveness of all their sins; Strengthen them we beseech thee, O Lord, with the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, and daily increase in them thy manifold gifts of grace; the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and ghostly strength, the spirit of knowledge and true godliness; and fill them, O Lord, with the spirit of thy holy fear, now and for ever. Amen.

The main differences are in language, one contemporary and the other traditional, but the same intentions are found in both.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says:"In the Latin Rite the Sacrament of Confirmation is conferred through the anointing with chrism on the forehead, which is done by the laying on of the hand." In the Anglican Rite the rubric states: Then all of them in order kneeling before the Bishop, he shall lay his hand upon the head of every one severally saying, "Defend, O Lord, this thy Child with thy heavenly grace”, etc.

Today in the Roman Catholic Church the bishop says, “Be sealed with the Holy Spirit, etc.” Bishop Stephen states that the Prayer he uses in anointing is, “N. I sign thee with the Sign of the Cross, and I confirm thee with the Chrism of Salvation, the Seal of the gifts of the Holy Spirit: In the Name of the Father, etc.”

The word Chrism means “Holy Oil”. As such the Sacrament of Confirmation is administered by the “Laying on of Hands, a Prayer for the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and the Anointing with Oil, and is practiced in all Catholic and Apostolic Church such as the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and the Traditional Anglican Communion.

In the Anglican Church at the time of the Reformation, the anointing with oil dropped out of common use, though not entirely discontinued, but it has now been restored in a majority of Anglican Church throughout the world. More next week.

Special note to our readers: I am amazed in studying the Catechism of the Catholic Church and comparing it with our Offices of Instruction in the BCP and the Services themselves how closely related they all are. There is little in the Catechism that is not already a regular practice among us. Faithfully, Dean Clayton T. Holland

Note from the editor: Weekly Catechism class content will be added to the site soon for those wishing to follow along but cannot attend our weekly classes. Content will be added on a new page with the menu item "Catechism Course Material". Once that page is online it will then be updated weekly with material covered each week.

Religious Instruction: As Anglican Christians, we rejoice in having preserved the use of the Seven Sacraments of the Universal or Catholic Church, among which is the Sacrament of Confirmation. The Sacrament of Confirmation will therefore be the subject over the next couple of weeks in our instruction in the Faith.

We trace the roots of the Sacrament back to the Apostolic practice recorded in Acts 8:14-17, that, When the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost; for as yet he was fallen upon none of them…….Then laid they their hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost.

Like Holy Baptism, Confirmation is received but once, and in Confirmation only at the hands of a Bishop within the Apostolic Succession or with oil consecrated by him for that purpose. In it, the Sevenfold Gifts of the Holy Spirit are imparted to the recipient. These spiritual gifts are: l. Grace, 2. Wisdom, 3. Understanding, 4, Counsel, 5. Ghostly Strength, 6. Knowledge and, 7. True Godliness. These Gifts of the Holy Spirit are given to the baptized believer as the necessary tools by which to live the Christian Faith to the fullest. In a sense, it is the “Ordination of the Laity: whose task it will be to “build up the Church of God”. [Ephesians 4:11-12]

Our House of Bishops has determined that we will utilize The Catechism of the Catholic Church in our teaching Ministry. In Article 2 #1285 we are taught that, “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 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”.

To be continued next week with a comparison of the Prayer of the Bishop for the Impartation of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in the Ordo Confirmationes of the Roman Liturgy and the same prayer in the Book of Common Prayer. Faithfully yours, Fr. Holland

Religious Instruction: As Anglican Christians, we are sometimes asked why we have the Service of Holy Communion each and every Sunday. The reason is simple. It is because our Lord himself commanded us to do so. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger and he who believes in Me shall never thirst”. He then added, “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world”. At the Last Supper, Jesus took bread, and broke it and gave it to his disciples saying, “Take eat; this is My body”. Then he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. Do this as oft as ye shall drink it in remembrance of me”.

St. Paul, one of the greatest missionaries the Church has known, reported on what Jesus taught him after his conversion, saying, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes”. In the Book of Acts we are told how often the earliest Christians participated in this most Holy Feast which they called simply, “The Breaking of Bread”. St. Luke tells us in the Book of Acts that, “On the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread“. He then goes on to tell us that, “They continued steadfastly in the apostle’s doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayers”. The “Breaking of Bread” meant the Holy Communion to them, just as it does to us and nothing less.

It is not our business why the majority of Christians in our communities only rarely partake of the Last Supper. This is up to them and their religious leaders. It is our business however, to make certain that we who are privileged to belong to the Church with a visible history extending back two thousand years, comply with both the biblical and theological reasons for maintaining this most Holy Sacrament with integrity and devotion. It is our duty and our great privilege. Fr. Holland

editors notes: Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) classes begin next Sunday 8/1/2010. Classes will be Sundays 8:45-9:45 am. It is our hope that all members will attend. Visitors are welcome.

Our monthly potluck lunch follows Mass next Sunday 8/1/2010.