#chrismation

I will be chrismated soon and I couldn't be happier

Officially Orthodox

Chrismation inaugurates an epiphany or manifestation of Christ in the conduct of the one who has been baptized. This epiphany shows forth the light of the Spirit of Christ shining upon the baptized person's being; it shows him to be the active image and living dwelling place of Christ, for chrismation helps the one baptized to make the image that has been imprinted upon him as a potentially into something real and active. Accordingly, it can be said that through chrismation it becomes apparent to us that we will actualize the gifts we received in baptism not only through the strength of our own powers but also with the help of the Spirit. This help begins immediately after baptism.

Through chrismation the Holy Spirit penetrates and imprints Himself upon these physical members and organs, and on the spiritual powers on which they are founded; also, in the same way as the holy chrism, the Spirit abides in them as pleasing fragrance. He imprints Himself as a seal not only on the outside of these members but also on their interiors, and so provides human beings with a unified spiritual image. The word "seal," therefore, has the twofold meaning of strengthening and of imprinting, and the two meanings are thus connected. The Spirit imparts strength inasmuch as He imprints Himself and accentuates with human beings a characteristic personal image, which is at the same time a spiritual image. The human being grows stronger through his pneumatization; he becomes a person set firmly in what is good, not easily susceptible to change.

To the visible act of this mystery belong the chrism, the anointing with it, and the words "the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit." The chrism with which the one baptized is anointed is the kind of fluid that penetrates and lingers much more within the baptized person than water does, and it also imparts a fragrance. The absorption of the chrism within the body signifies that the condition of the new man's birth is being assimilated. Its lingering is a sign that the Holy Spirit remains in an ongoing communion with the one baptized, while the fragrance it lends to him means that the Spirit becomes so closely connected to the one baptized that the Spirit's activity and quality become an activity and quality proper to the Christian himself. Yet these realities do not come to exist without constant effort on the part of the one baptized, aided as he is by the Spirit whom he has received. Where this effort is present, the chrism is absorbed within the body, the body grows pliable and loses its rigidity, it allows itself to be penetrated by God, and man and Spirit become a single font of the fragrance of the new life, and hence of that very life itself. The good odor that disseminates from the one imbued with chrism makes it plain, however, that the Spirit is causing the Christian to fill everything around him with the fragrance of his purified life and nature, filled as it now is with that goodness and kindness that the Spirit, represented symbolically as a dove, has breathed upon him. he fragrance of the believer fills the Church and spreads out into the human community. Through the medium of the Christian's humanity, the Spirit manifests His own power of expansion and the force of a goodness that is gentle, delicate, and innocent, a force to bring all men into unity within the good, a force that the Spirit makes His own and in which Christ, who has perfected human nature in the highest degree, is also found.

Heavenly, triune God, You -- Who never wished to see the destruction of Your creation, Who gave to strayed Adam and humanity a second chance to be saved with the incarnation of the Son, Who with baptism cleanse us from original sin, Who sanctify us as honourable members of the mystical body of Christ, Who with the sacrament of chrismation -- grant us the gifts -- the armour -- of the Holy Spirit so that we may struggle in our earthly battle. Lord strengthen our will so that we may always follow You and do Your will. Do not allow us to be induced by Satan to do our own will. Lead us safely to our theosis and salvation. We fervently thank You.