There is a laying on of hands during the sacrament of confirmation, but the ritual action is different from other sacraments that do so.

In the sacraments of holy orders and anointing, as well as the scrutinies of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, the hands of the bishop or priest are placed palms down on the crown of the head of the person receiving the sacrament. In the sacrament of confirmation, instead of the bishop placing his hands on the heads of each candidate individually, the bishop extends his hands in blessing over all the candidates together.

It is well known that the laying on of hands imparts the Holy Spirit, but there is another layer of meaning found in the Old Testament or the Hebrew Scriptures that is often not mentioned, partly because of its unsettling message. To lay hands on an animal or a person meant that it had been set aside for sacrifice and eventual death.

After Aaron and his sons were consecrated as priests (Ex 29:1-10), they conducted a series of sacrifices. First, they laid their hands upon a bull and had it slaughtered (Ex 29:10-11). Then they laid their hands on a ram (Ex 29:15) and then another ram (Ex 29:19), both which were also slaughtered (see also Lv 8:14-30). This became a daily ritual at the meeting tent, with one lamb offered each morning and a second in the evening (Ex 29:38-42). A hand was laid on the head of the sheep (Lv 1:4). This was also done with the scapegoat (Lv 16:20-28).

This ritual was not restricted to animals. If a person committed a capital crime, the Israelites took the offender outside of their camp, laid their hands on the head of the criminal, and then the evildoer was put to death (see Lv 24:14).

The laying on of hands does not mean that the confirmand will be put to death, but it does mean that the confirmand is willing to sacrifice, to suffer for the sake of Jesus and the Gospel, and in extreme cases, the suffering may be so severe that it approaches the point of death. In his autobiography “Treasure in Clay,” the late Bishop Fulton Sheen describes two types of martyrs: “wet martyrs,” those who shed their blood and die for the faith, and “dry martyrs,” those who do not shed their blood but suffer mistreatment, persecution or torture for their beliefs for extended periods of time, weeks or months, sometimes even for years. Often, those who lay down their lives in sacrifice by living and enduring suffer far more than those who die quickly.

Sacrifice includes the hardships of life: broken relationships, disappointments, rejection, loneliness, hopelessness, addiction, accident, injury, aging, or mental or physical illness. The confirmed carry their crosses, persevere, keep the faith and offer their troubles to God.

St. Paul understood the sacrificial nature of the Christian life and exhorts the confirmed: “Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect” (Rom 12:1-2). The confirmed are invited to offer themselves as a pleasing sacrifice to God, to clothe themselves with “heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another” (Col 3:12-13). And above all these, the confirmed clothe themselves with love. A life lived until death permeated with virtue and goodness is a pleasing sacrifice to God.

Father Van Sloun is pastor of St. Bartholomew in Wayzata. This column is part of an ongoing series on confirmation.