FINAL CONFIRMATION/FIRST COMMUNION EXAM 2015 You need

FINAL CONFIRMATION/FIRST COMMUNION EXAM 2015
You need to call the office (591-6924) during office hours (see bulletin cover) and
request an appointment time. A parent must accompany you to this exam. The exam will be oral and not written. There are 5 questions which you must satisfactorily answer.
QUESTION #1: What is the Sacrament of Confirmation?
(see the notes below regarding the Sacrament of Confirmation)
QUESTION #2: Tell me WHY you want to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation.
QUESTION #3: Tell me what the following Latin inscriptions mean and why do
we have them in our Holy Innocents church.
VOX IN RAMA AUDITA EST PLORATUS ET ULULATUS MULTUS.
ECCE MATER TUA
QUIS UT DEUS
QUESTION #4: What is the people's response to these words of the priest at
Mass?
PRAY BROTHERS AND SISTERS THAT MY SACRIFICE AND YOURS MAY BE ACCEPTABLE TO GOD THE ALMIGHT FATHER.
(HINT: you can find the response in the Sunday Mass guide, which you may take
home with you in order to study the Mass prayers).
QUESTION #5: What is the people's response to these words of the priest at
Mass?
BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD, BEHOLD HIM WHO TAKES AWAY THE SINS OF THE
WORLD, BLESSED ARE THOSE CALLED TO THE SUPPER OF THE LAMB.
(HINT: you can find the response in the Sunday Mass guide).
NOTES ABOUT THE SACFRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION
The exam will cover anything on this study sheet, including the links. Make sure
you have studied everything (get someone to help you if necessary).
Please keep in mind that the Sacrament of Confirmation is NOT:
when you BECOME AN ADULT CATHOLIC CHRISTIAN
 when you CHOOSE FOR YOURSELF to be a Catholic Christian
 a GRADUATION CEREMONY or SOME SPECIAL RECOGNITION because you
attended some classes

If your answer is anyone of the above responses, YOU WILL FAIL THE TEST.
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Sacrament of Confirmation
IS: “the special outpouring of the Holy Spirit as once granted to the apostles on
the day of Pentecost” (1302).
God wants to do for you what He did for the apostles on that first Pentecost which
took place 50 days after Jesus Christ bodily rose from the dead. READ ABOUT
THAT FIRST PENTECOST IN YOUR BIBLE: Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 2 (read the
entire chapter here).
On that first Pentecost, the cowardly apostles who hid themselves in the upper
room after Jesus' death on the cross, became courageous messengers to everyone
they met that the same Jesus who had been crucified on Good Friday, was now
alive again. His risen body could pass through walls, for example, as it did when
Jesus first appeared to the apostles on that first Easter Sunday night in the upper
room.
The upper room is described in the Gospels as a spacious, upstairs room (hence,
the name, “upper room”), where Jesus had His LAST SUPPER with His apostles:
It was in this special place that Jesus:
-instituted the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist (“This is my body; This is the chalice of my blood”)
-instituted the Sacrament of the Priesthood (He made His apostles His first priests
when He said, “Do this in memory of me”)
-instituted the Sacrament of Confession (this happened on the evening of His res-
urrection when He appeared to the apostles and told them: “Receive the Holy
Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any,
they are retained”) [John 20:22-23]
It was in this same place, this upper room, that God the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles who were gathered around Mary, the Mother of Jesus. They were
never the same again.
This is what God wants to do for you when you receive the Sacrament of Confirmation. Confirmation is your own, personal Pentecost.
Confirmation is THE SACRAMENT OF “STRENGTHENING.”
That's exactly what the word CONFIRM means. It comes from the LATIN, confirmare, which means to strengthen, to fortify, to make stronger in THE FAITH YOU
RECEIVED ON THE DAY OF YOUR BAPTISM. This is why it is said that Confirmation
completes Baptism.
You can get to heaven without receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation, but it will
be very hard.
Let's say you want to go on a long trip from Los Angeles to New York City. You
have a choice between a skateboard and a 2014 Cadillac Escalade SUV. Of course,
you'd take the Escalade because you want to get there as safely and efficiently as
possible. That's what it's like to get to heaven strengthened by the Sacrament of
Confirmation.
What will Confirmation do for you, then?
Confirmation gives you TWO POWERS, one is for you and one is for others.
1- You will be strengthened to live a holy life in an unholy world as well as the
courage to sacrifice and suffer for Christ. Christians are called to be “countercultural,” that is, to go against the flow, to be different. Standing up for Christ and
His Church makes us different. Confirmation gives you the added strength to do
just that.
2- You will be strengthened by God the Holy Spirit to SPREAD and DEFEND the
Catholic faith by word and deed.
In addition, Confirmation will imprint upon your soul a SPIRITUAL MARK called a
“character” which marks YOUR TOTAL BELONGING TO CHRIST and YOUR ENROLLMENT IN HIS SERVICE FOREVER.
To read more about the Sacrament of Confirmation, go HERE.