This document provides information about the Catholic Church and its sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation. It defines the Church as one, holy, catholic, and apostolic, and discusses what each of these attributes mean. It then explains the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation in detail, including their symbols, effects, and the roles of the Holy Spirit. It concludes by describing the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit bestowed in Confirmation.

1. Catechetical School
Baptism and Confirmation
Prayerful Preparation
and Catechism 2014

2. What do you think the
Church is?
 physical structure
 a place of worship
 evokes image of bishops, priests and
religious
 any particular church organization/group
that one joins
… BUT it’s much more than this!

3. Who and
what is the
Church?
The Church
is…
 The Temple
of the Holy
Spirit

4. The Church is … The Body of Christ
• Apart from the
head (Jesus), we
have no life
• Each member is
called to care for
each other. If one
suffers, the whole
body suffers.

5. Four Marks of the
Church
One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic

6. Church as One

7. Church as One
 One living God in three persons; One in Her Founder
(JC);
 Church is in unity in the Eucharist (Communion) – “one
loaf of bread broken and shared.”
 Unified in Jesus in faith and in our Divine Worship as
one family
 Unity of liturgy, doctrine and authority.
 One set of law – Canon Law
 Peter - visible sign of the Church's unity; first Pope. All
Popes are called “successors to Peter”

9. Church is Holy
 Holy because Jesus Christ loves the Church as His
Bride and gave Himself up to make her holy.
 Holy because of the Holy Spirit who helps her
become holy.
 Our task then is to always to allow ourselves to be
purified and renewed. Church is holy but also
always in need to be purified and renewed.
 All are called to holiness -- Universal Call to
Holiness

11. Church is Catholic
 Catholic – katolikos (term first heard from St.
Ignatius of Antioch, disciple of St. John the Apostle).
It means “universal”
 catholic – “universal” means spread throughout the
world, possessing all saving truth, sent to all people,
heals all kinds of sins, and is filled with all kinds of
virtues
 Mission - is that our catholic Church must extend to
all, to love everyone.

13. Church is Apostolic
 Built on the foundation of the apostles
 The Church guards and transmits the pure teachings
of the apostles and is seen in their successors
(Apostolic Succession)
 The Church has distinct ties, roots, connections to the
original 12 Apostles Jesus chose to begin His Church.
They were given the task and grace to guard and
transmit His teachings.
 Apostolic Succession
 Principal way that Apostles still guides us
 Bishops guided by the Holy Spirit

15. Communion of Saints
 Refers to the fellowship or community that exist
between all members of the Church.
 We believe that death can’t sever the ties that bind
the members of the Church, because the soul is
immortal and only the body can die.
 We believe that the Church is made up of the:
 Church Militant – we who are still on pilgrimage.
 Church Suffering – holy souls in purgatory
 Church Triumphant – saints in heaven

18. Church as a Sacrament
 The Church leads us to Christ and the Holy Spirit.
 The Church is willed by God, so all may share in His
divine goodness & life in and through the sacraments.
 CFC 1131: Sacraments are “Efficacious signs of grace,
instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by
which divine life is dispensed to us”
 A Sacrament is a symbol that points to Christ.
Therefore, the Church is a symbol, a visible sign, that
points to Christ and gives grace.
 Grace is simply: a share in the life of God.

19. Sacraments
 Signs – tangible and visible;
 Symbols – has meaning; real events that
make present the spiritual reality they
express
 Sacred Gift (Grace) – freely given even
when we are not worthy; not a right
 Grace – make us holy; inspires us to
selflessly conform to God’s will.

20. Sacraments
 From the Latin “sacramentum”, a word which refers
to the oath of loyalty sworn by soldiers to the
emperor; In Christianity it means the mysteries and
signs by which man expressed loyalty to God.
 Rites celebrated that use visible signs to symbolize
invisible grace given by God.
 Sacraments bear fruit to those who receive with
required dispositions

21. Sacraments
give us
GRACE,
the life of
God.
The Seven Sacraments

23. Remember:
 The Sacrament of Initiation leaves an indelible
mark on the soul, which can never be repeated nor
is it removed. No one can ever be un-baptized or
re-baptized.

26. Baptism
 The first and foremost of the Seven Sacraments
 Through it we are initiated into the Catholic
Church
 We become adopted sons and daughters of
God
 Baptism washes away original sin
 Gives us a share in the Kingly, Priestly and
Prophetic Mission of Christ

27. Baptizing with Water
Only water can be used for Baptism – no other substance. It
is not pre-blessed. It will be blessed during the rite.

28. Immersion
 Fully immersing a person in water three times while
saying the invocation of the Holy Trinity

29. Aspersion
 Sprinkling of water on the forehead and then invoking
the invocation of the Holy Trinity

30. Infusion
 Pouring water over the head of the one being baptized
while pronouncing the invocation of the Holy Trinity

31. Symbols and Meanings
 Water – forgiveness; cleansing
 Oil (Chrism) – symbol of “being sent” or
“anointed”. Share in the three-fold Mission of Christ
– to sanctify (priestly), to proclaim (prophetic) and
give Christian leadership and example to the world
(kingly)
 White Garment – symbol of dignity; clothed in
dignity of Christ
 Candles – symbolic of being light to the world. For
the Godparents holding it, it means they are to

32. Rights and Privileges
of the Baptized
 To love and serve others in the Church and the world.
 To love and obey Church Leaders.
 To receive Sacraments and love them.
 To be nourished by God’s Word and love it.
 To go to Church. To seek spiritual guidance. (confession,
catechism, spiritual counsel/direction, prayers)
 To participate in the Church’s Missionary Activities.
 To live a holy life following God’s will as sons and
daughters through the guidance and power of the Holy
Spirit.

34. Confirmation
 Sacrament of Maturity; “Confirma” means “to strengthen”.
 In the Bible it is referred to “laying of hands”
 Accepting responsibility for our faith and actively living our
vocation. (no longer just by-standers but doers)
 Be “soldiers of Christ” with spiritual duty to fight battle
between good and evil, light and darkness – a war between the
human race and all the powers of hell (sin)
 Strengthen unity with Church and Christ
 Exercise Apostolic Zeal (courage sent by Holy Spirit) in
making Christ known to all the world

35. Rite of Confirmation

36. Bishop
“lays his
hands”
upon the
head

37. Bishop traces the
Sign of the Cross
on the forehead
– having first
dipped his
thumb in holy
oil called Chrism
he head

38. And says “Be
sealed with the
Gifts of the Holy
Spirit”.
Newly
confirmed says
“Amen"

40. Effects of Confirmation
 Strengthens the Spirit and Gifts we received in
Baptism. Increases Sanctifying Grace.
 We receive a special grace by which our faith is
deepened and strengthened, so that it will be
strong enough not only for our own needs but for
the needs of others with whom we shall try to share
it.

41. Effects of Confirmation
 Root us more deeply in divine filiations (being children
of God)
 Unites us more firmly to Christ
 Increases the gifts of the Holy Spirit in us
 Strengthens our bond with the Church
 Associates us more closely to her mission of bearing
witness to Christ
 Helps us and more strictly obliges us to spread and
defend the faith by word and deed

42. 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit

43. Fear of the Lord
A Childlike Fear
The fear of displeasing our
Father who loves us
very much.

44. Fear of the Lord
 Childlike fear which causes us to be afraid of displeasing
God. There are two kinds of fear:
 Fear of a Servant– which is the fear of punishment
 Fear of a Child- fear of disappointing or hurting his father
or mother. (a fear that is based on love)
 Childlike fear of God is the more noble and beautiful of
the two, as it urges the soul to avoid the least sin in order
not to displease God, the best and most amiable Father in
Heaven.
 The Saints were animated by childlike fear and love for
the Heavenly Father and were ready to die rather than
break His holy law by willful sin.

45. Piety
Reverence
for God
The forgiven woman shows
much love to Jesus.

46. Piety
 Also called “Godliness” – with this gift the
Holy Spirit infuses into us a reverence for God
and Divine things.
 Piety gives us joy and the sweetest pleasure in
conversing with Him, in listening to spiritual
reading and in hearing the Divine word.
 It makes us delight to do the will of the Father
and makes us have a heart all that wants to
honor and glorify of God.

47. Piety
 Piety leads us to love God as the best of
Fathers, to love most tenderly His dearly
beloved Son and the holy Mother of that
Son.
 Piety moves us to love not only the Saints
and the Angels, but also our fellow men, as
the images and children of God.

48. Wisdom of Solomon:
Solomon picks the rightful mother.
Counsel
Discerning
What is Right

49. Counsel
 Counsel moves the soul to choose what gives
glory to God and what is best for its own
salvation.
 Through Counsel we learn how best to please
God. By following the inspirations of the
Holy Spirit, we receive true interior peace and
spiritual consolation.

50. Counsel
 We ask ourselves: What Would Jesus Do in
this Situation? (WWJD)
 Especially needed by leaders or those tasked
to lead others and make wise judgments in
every situation like teachers, principals,
student leaders, org leaders. (Lawyers are
often called “Counsel”; Guidance Counselors
provide sound advice to people who are
having personal problems.)

51. Fortitude
Courage to Do
What is Right
Martyred early Christians

52. Fortitude
 With the gift of Counsel, the Holy Spirit helps us discern
what to do in every situation. With the gift of Fortitude, the
Holy Spirit gives us the courage to do it or carry it out.
 Removes timidity/shyness and desire for human praise and
approval, strengthens souls to hate sin, to practice virtue and
to prefer contempt, temporal loss, persecution and even death
rather than to deny Christ by word or deed.
 HS empowers us to fight and overcome the enemies of our
salvation (temptations to sin), difficulties and persecutions,
to fulfill the will of God. It makes us ready and courageous to
undertake the greatest sacrifices for our salvation.

53. Fortitude, contd
 Not seeking danger for danger’s sake; Fortitude is
always reasoned and reasonable/prudent.
 Fortitude is not foolhardiness or rashness, "rushing in
where angels fear to tread." Indeed, part of the virtue of
fortitude is controlling/stopping reckless behavior
(hindi pabigla-bigla, gungho o war freak)
 Fortitude is the virtue of the martyrs, who are willing
to give their lives rather than to renounce their faith.
That sacrifice may be passive—Christian martyrs do
not actively seek martyrdom—but it is still determined
and resolute/”desidido”

54. Understanding
Deep Insight into
Divine Mysteries and
Truths of Faith
St. Jerome reading Scripture.

55. Understanding
 Gift enables us to understand the mysteries and
doctrines of our holy religion.
 It is discursive – allows us to view these mysteries and
truths in different angles like studying the properties of
a diamond. We use enlightened reason to analyze and
understand something that God wishes to reveal to us.
 More than just understanding of the mind ---If God
wants to lead a soul to holiness, He gives it an interior
light and a deep insight into the Divine mysteries.
 It reveals the hidden meaning of Sacred Scripture.

56. Understanding, contd
 The soul, understanding these mysteries according
to the will of God, is filled with the desire to serve
Him more perfectly.
 Through this gift, simple persons are given by God
a deep knowledge of great mysteries than learned
but less devout persons -- for examples, the
mysteries of the Most Holy Trinity and the
Incarnation; Because God loves and reveals Himself
the humble of heart.

57. Knowlege
St. Francis
embraced a
life of poverty
to serve God
and all His
creatures.
Knowing the Right Value of
Creation to our Ultimate End

58. Knowledge
 Worldly Meaning: Knowledge as information that we use
to benefit our life; to enhance it; to become successful in it.
 Gift of Knowledge - A supernatural habit (does not come
and go) strengthened by God through which the human
intellect, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, judges rightly
about created things and our ultimate and supernatural
end.
 By this gift, the human intellect understands and judges
created things by a certain divine instinct. The individual
does not proceed by laborious reasoning but judges rightly
concerning all created things by a kind of superior gift that
gives an intuitive impulse. (pangitain, kutob, pakiramdam)

59. Knowledge, contd
 Now created things tend either toward our supernatural end
or away from it and the Gift of Knowledge helps us to judge
rightly in this respect.
 The Gift of Knowledge helps us to apply the teachings of our
faith to the living of daily life, knowing the proper use of
material creation, the value of things as well as their dangers
and misuses. It helps us decide what things conform to our
faith and what things do not.
 We are able to make use and treat of creation in the proper
way with necessary detachment and proper appreciation for
what is truly good. (eg. We value people more than material
things; We value inner goodness than physical beauty; We are
not attached to things that we can take with us when we die.)

60. Wisdom
A Heart
Aflame with
Love for God
Mary’s Magnificat

61. Wisdom
 Gift of Wisdom is the highest and most privileged Gift
of the Holy Spirit. It is like an overflowing of the
Uncreated Wisdom.
 St Bernard: “Wisdom enables us to know God and to
rejoice in perfect love.”
 Wisdom not only enlightens the mind, but it inflames
the heart with love for God, gives us a taste for Divine
things, and an ardent desire for heavenly treasures ------
----- especially a longing to possess God and to see Him
face to face. It detaches our hearts from the goods of this
world and removes us from everything opposed to our
last end. In its light, we see more and more clearly the
nothingness of things created.

62. Wisdom, contd
 The truths of God begin to make great sense to us and we begin to
love what God loves, will what God wills. His teachings become
clearer to us. We see things increasingly from God’s point of view
through this supernatural gift. The thinking or “wisdom” of the
world increasingly seems foolish, even crazy, and appreciation of
God’s Wisdom becomes greater.
 Through this gift the person desires to be in union only with God
and His ways; to be conformed to His will.
 Our love of neighbor is also perfected by it since the Gift of Wisdom
helps us to see and thus love others more and more as God sees
and loves them. Since this is a gift, it cannot be learned or acquired.
But, as with the Gift of Knowledge, one’s study of Scripture and
Tradition can help dispose one for the growth of the Gift.

63. Fruits of the Holy Spirit

64. 12 Fruits of the Holy Spirit
1. Charity – Loving God above all and others as
we love ourselves and for the sake of loving
Him.
2. Joy – Being happy at knowing that God is
present in our heart.
3. Peace – Our soul being in tranquility/serenity
with a good conscience; Being at peace in our
relationship with others/community; “the
peace that the world cannot give or
understand.”

65. 12 Fruits of the Holy Spirit
4. Patience – Moderating our sadness at the
experience of evil, hardship or pain.
5. Kindness – Caring for others’ welfare; being
gentle with others
6. Goodness – Wanting to renounce evil and
seeking to do good; habit of repentance
7. Perseverance – Faithfulness in striving to be
good; bearing the cross of being good all the
time, not just sometimes.

66. 12 Fruits of the Holy Spirit
8. Temperance – also called prudence; Being
reasonable; curbing excess; eg. in fraternal
correction or correcting our brothers and
sisters who we see are doing something
sinful; Our ways must be tempered by
charity.
9. Faith - The act of spiritual and intellectual
assent to a revealed truth of God with the
assistance of Divine grace.

67. 12 Fruits of the Holy Spirit
10. Modesty - Restraint in dress and attire, and a
preference of purity of mind and heart in sexual
matters.
11.Continency - Virtue of rightful exercise of the
sexual act, including its desire, as prescribed by
Almighty God.
12.Chastity - Virtue that voluntarily excludes all
indulgence in sexual impulses in the unmarried
and the habit of refraining from improper use of
the sexual faculties in married persons.

69. The Holy Spirit is in each
of us as disciples of Christ.
 The HS makes it possible so that risen Christ
can be present within and among us.
 How is it expressed in our individual lives?
 HS adopts us; spirit of adoption - we become
children of God; Jesus is the only begotten son of
God but we are adopted by God thru baptism
 HS empowers us to love
 HS empowers us to bear witness not only in our
speech but also in the lives we live

70. The Holy Spirit is in each
of us as disciples of Christ.
 HS empowers us to know the truth - reminds us of
everything that Jesus said and taught us
 HS draws us into community, unity and service
 HS inspires true Christian life -- in 2 ways
 HS strengthens us in our struggle against evil
 HS transforms us

71. Requirements for Confirmation

72. Requirements
 At least 12 years old, able to use reason,
 Properly disposed, be in a state of grace
 Be cleansed of all sin to prepare for the Holy Spirit.
 Prayerful and open to receive the strength and
graces of the Holy Spirit as He wishes to give with
docility and readiness to act for Him.
 White dress
 1 set of Godparents (who are practicing Catholics)

74. Sacrament
of Penance
• Also known
as the
Sacrament of
Reconciliation
or Confession
• Sacrament for
our spiritual
healing

75. Are you really, truly sorry?
 Prayerfully Examine your conscience
 Confess all known and un-confessed
mortal sins; Any and all venial sins
committed since the last confession are
encouraged to be confessed too.
 Contrition (sorrow) for sin must be
genuine

76. Doing Penance
 Penance – acts of self-abasement, mortification or
devotion to show sorrow or repentance for sins
 It may be a set of prayers, acts of mercy etc. as may
be given by the Priest
 Whatever the penance, it is merely a token. We
believe that the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross is
what made atonement for our sins. Our penance is
for our benefit – to remind us that God comes first
and we come last.

77. Absolution
• The Priest gives
absolution only
when the penitent
shows true
contrition and
firm purpose of
amendment.
• If the penitent
pretends, the
absolution given
is invalid because
nobody can fool
God.

78. Sacramental Absolution
The Priest prays:
“God the Father of mercies through the death and
resurrection of His Son has reconciled the world to
Himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the
forgiveness of sins. Through the ministry of the
Church may God give you pardon and peace, and I
absolve you from all sins, in the Name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.”

79. 10
Commandments
According to
Exodus in the Old
Testament, God
gave Moses on
Mount Sinai his own
set of laws. These
laws are not
negotiable, and they
apply to any human
being who’s at least
7 years old (age of
reason).

82. The Laws of Love
 37 Jesus answered “You shall love the Lord your
God with all your heart, with all your soul, and
with all your mind. 38 This is the first and the most
important of the commandments. 39 But after this,
there is another one very similar to it: You shall love
your neighbor as yourself. 40 The whole law and
the Prophets are founded on these two
commandments”
(Matthew 22: 37-40)

83. Jesus’ Law of Love
(Mt. 5-7)
 Do not judge.
 Do not expect too much or too little from people
including yourself
 “Request” not “Demand”
 Seek reconciliation with people you had a disagreement
with
 Be faithful to your marital vows
 Do not take oaths or swear against people, God loved
ones etc. It is either YES or NO. Have self-responsibility.

84. Jesus’ Law of Love
(Mt. 5-7)
 Have complete love, trust and dependence on God
 Love your enemies. Pray for them.
 “whatsoever you do (or not do) to the least of my
brothers, you have done unto to me”
 Do good to the least, the last and the lost. Do it as if
it is for and to Jesus
 “Die to yourself that you may have eternal life”

85. “Love has been perfected among us in
this: that we may have boldness on
the day of judgment, because as he is,
so are we in this world. 18 There is
no fear in love, but perfect love casts
out fear; for fear has to do with
punishment, and whoever fears has
not reached perfection in love.”
(1Jn 4:17-18)