Chrismation

Chrismation

Chrismation is the sacrament immediately following baptism, through which the newly baptized receives the gift of the Holy Spirit.

As St. Cyril of Jerusalem teaches in his Catechetical Lecture 21, the holy chrism is not regarded as ordinary ointment. After invocation, it becomes the gift of grace, and by the advent of the Holy Spirit is made fit to impart sanctification.

“But beware of supposing this to be plain ointment. For as the Bread of the Eucharist, after the invocation of the Holy Ghost, is mere bread no longer, but the Body of Christ, so also this holy ointment is no more simple ointment, nor (so to say) common, after invocation, but it is Christ's gift of grace, and, by the advent of the Holy Ghost, is made fit to impart His Divine Nature. Which ointment is symbolically applied to your forehead and your other senses; and while your body is anointed with the visible ointment, your soul is sanctified by the Holy and life-giving Spirit.”

This sacred chrism, blessed and invoked with the Holy Spirit, seals the recipient with divine grace and sanctifies the soul through the Holy and life-giving Spirit.

Through this sacrament, the newly illumined is strengthened for life in Christ, receiving the Spirit’s gift as an abiding seal, in continuity with the Church’s understanding of Pentecost as the outpouring of the Spirit upon the faithful.