What happens after Confirmation matters. Many who receive the sacrament simply disappear from the life of the Church. When they leave the faith, they miss out on the fullness that God calls them to in this life, and they put their eternal salvation at risk. Sadly, cultural apathy leads many away from the Church, and the Church needs your help as a sponsor to ensure that your candidate’s renewed life in the Spirit takes root. Encourage him/her to attend Mass every Sunday and to go to Confession regularly. Offer ongoing guidance so that your candidate’s intellectual grasp of the faith will continue to grow. 

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The ancient Church observed a period of fifty days after Easter during which the newly baptized and confirmed received further instruction and formation. This formation period was known as mystagogy, meaning “leading into the mysteries”. Baptism and Confirmation were not seen as the “finish lines”, but as the “starting gates” of the life of faith, and mystagogy helped the newly initiated Christian understand how to live this faith fully. Mystagogy remains part of the Church’s formal sacramental formation today, as part of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA).