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Now, this is where we enter territory where I am lost. I will have to do some reading to even understand the significance of Confirmation. I have a better grasp of the Eucharist, but even Baptism is somewhat of a mystery to me.
But, this connection to the mark makes it very interesting.
is where I first heard about this particular importance of Confirmation.
I've just done some research - looking into St. Vincent Ferrer for the first time - and I'm amazed that I haven't been familiar with him. Read to get an idea of who he was and why his words should be taken seriously - as if his canonization was not reason enough for that. He established himself as a capable prophet even in life, and performed quite a large number of miracles in name of Jesus Christ, including several resurrections. And of course his body was incorrupt after death. I might begin a devotion to this saint; I would like to know him better.
is the full letter he wrote to Pope Benedict XIII, explaining his Apocalyptic prophecies, which is referenced in that previous article to which I linked.
And is an article that references the same prophecy that Dr. Taylor Marshall references in that video I shared. The prophecy reads:
“In the days of peace that are to come after the desolation of revolutions and wars, before the end of the world, the Christians will become so lax in their religion that they will refuse to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation, saying, ‘It is an unnecessary Sacrament.’; and when the false prophet and the Anti-Christ comes, all who are not confirmed will apostatize, while those who are confirmed will stand firm in the faith, and only a few will renounce Christ.”
The first time you demonstrated being really compelled by something I said about the Catholic faith, Chiro, it was with respect to the sacraments - I pointed out that man, being both spiritual ad corporeal, ought to have something like sacraments, which are actually corporeal and yet simultaneously spiritual in their efficacy and power, and that one would expect the True God, in establishing a Church, or any structure for those He seeks to save, to do so with sacraments for this reason. Sacraments are readily pursued and abundantly powerful. They should not be overlooked.
What St. Vincent predicts in this prophecy, that people will view Confirmation as something superfluous, and thus avoid it, is very realistic a prediction from my perspective. The Church teaches that Baptism and Confession are the only sacraments technically necessary for salvation (since baptism forgives original sin, which is mortal, and confession removes mortal sins committed after baptism, and mortal sin is just that that keeps us from being able to unify with God), although of course one if Her precepts is that the Eucharist should be received by all Catholics at least once a year, since those who do not receive it "have no life in them" (). Honestly, John 6:54 itself should be enough to convince anyone who takes Christianity even a little seriously just how important sacraments are.
My point is, at most, those three sacraments are considered indispensable. But they are all indispensable (can we really argue that Christ established seven sacraments just so it would be a holy number?). Holy Orders brings one into the priesthood, without which there can be no sacraments (except baptism technically, since anyone can baptize, but the efficacy of baptism comes through Christ's Church, and without the priesthood there is no Church, in a very real sense, since without the priesthood there is no Eucharist). Holy Matrimony joins man and woman together in marriage, without which there can be no licit sexual union, no moral raising of offspring. Obviously there are non-sacramental "marriages" that the Church would still consider permissive of sexual union, but you take my point that Matrimony, as a sacrament, cannot rightly be called dispensable. Last Rites is basically the administering of Confession, if the dying is conscious, before death, and the blessing of their death so they may receive the grace they need to enter heaven - not exactly unimportant.
But then there is Confirmation. It gives us "bonus graces", and an opportunity for those baptized at birth to actually make baptismal promises and explicitly renounce Satan. "Big deal, right?"
No sacrament established by Christ is superfluous or dispensable, not properly speaking. Confirmation plays a vital role. The graces it grants are, according to the clearly holy St. Vincent Ferrer, are actually essential to be constitutionally capable of resisting the temptations of the Antichrist, to avoid succumbing.
And if you are now saying to yourself, "no way, I know too much, I see through the lies, I won't be fooled" - is that not pride in place of humility? Is that not trusting yourself instead of God? Isn't the trust of man, in place of the trust of God, precisely what the number of the beast represents? , or compare or to - as is usually the case, there are literal and symbolic meanings to these profound verses of Scripture. The Old Law commanded the "tying" of the Law itself to one's head and/or hands, and the Antichrist will mark those who follow him on the foreheads and/or hands. This is a sign, an anti-sacrament, something corporeal but also spiritually significant, that announces to the world "I think and act according, not to Christ, but Antichrist, the world!".
And how are we to avoid the anti-sacrament without the sacrament? If we trust in ourselves to avoid the anti-sacrament, if we believe in our own power to accomplish this, then we already affirm the anti-sacrament in spirit, because we trust ourselves, we trust man, instead of God.
Sanctus Vincentius Ferrerius, ora pro nobis!
(post is archived)