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C. S. Lewis Believed in the Sacrament of Confirmation

C. S. Lewis Believed in the Sacrament of Confirmation

Last updated on: June 5, 2026 at 11:55 pm by Dave Armstrong

C. S. Lewis Believed in the Sacrament of Confirmation 2026-06-05T23:55:15-04:00 Dave Armstrong

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The following excerpts are from: The Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis, Vol. II: Books, Broadcasts, and the War, 1931-1949, edited by Walter Hooper, HarperSanFrancisco, 2004:

[D]on’t count on any remarkable sensations, either at this [her Confirmation] or your first (of fifty first) Communion. God gives these or not as He pleases. Their presence does not prove that things are especially well, nor their absence that things are wrong. The intention, the obedience, is what matters. (To Rhona Bodle, 11 November 1949, p. 994)

More related comments are to be found in The Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis, Vol. III: Narnia, Cambridge, and Joy 1950-1963, edited by Walter Hooper, HarperSanFrancisco, 2007:

[D]on’t expect . . . that when you are confirmed, or when you make your first Communion, you will have all the feelings you would like to have. You may, of course: but also you may not. But don’t worry if you don’t get them. They aren’t what matter. The things that are happening to you are quite real things whether you feel as you would wish or not, just as a meal will do a hungry person good even if he has a cold in the head which will rather spoil the taste. Our Lord will give us right feelings if He wishes — and then we must say Thank you. If He doesn’t, then we must say to ourselves (and Him) that He knows best. . . .

For years, after I had become a regular communicant I can’t tell you how dull my feelings were and how my attention wandered at the most important moments. It is only in the last year or two that things have begun to come right — which just shows how important it is to keep on doing what you are told. (To Sarah Neylan, 4 March 1949, p. 1587)

It is quite right that you should feel that ‘something terrific’ has happened to you (it has) and be all ‘glowy’. Accept these sensations as birthday cards from God, but . . . it is not the sensations that are the real thing. The real thing is the gift of the Holy Spirit which can’t usually be — perhaps not ever — experienced as a sensation or emotion. . . . It will be there when you can’t feel it. May even be most operative when you can feel it least. (To Genia Goelz, 15 May 1952, p. 191)

Confirmation in the Bible & the Fathers (vs. Calvin #50) [12-17-09]
*

The Holy Spirit, Cornelius, Baptism, & Confirmation [4-10-17]

C. S. Lewis’ Views on Christian Unity & Ecumenism [6-16-03]

Contraception: Chesterton, C. S. Lewis, & Teddy Roosevelt [2-21-04]

C. S. Lewis’ Childhood in Belfast & Contra-Catholicism (Biographers and/or Friends Kreeft, Pearce, Derrick, and Possibly Tolkien Think This is Why Lewis Never Became a Catholic) [6-26-12]

Why Didn’t C. S. Lewis Become a Catholic? [8-29-14]

Dialogue on Why C. S. Lewis Didn’t “Pope” [9-1-15]

C. S. Lewis vs. St. Paul on Future Binding Church Authority [National Catholic Register, 1-22-17]

Why C. S. Lewis Never Became a Catholic [National Catholic Register, 3-5-17]

C. S. Lewis on Inevitable Development of Doctrine [2-17-19]

C. S. Lewis on Catholicism (Correspondence: 1934-1947) [9-13-19]

C. S. Lewis Practiced Confession to an Anglican Priest [10-7-19]

C. S. Lewis Believed in Purgatory & Prayer for the Dead [10-8-19]

C. S. Lewis & the Invocation & Communion of Saints [10-10-19]
*

C. S. Lewis Believed in Vicarious, Redemptive Suffering [10-17-19]

Masturbation: C. S. Lewis Explains Why it is Wrong [10-28-19]

C. S. Lewis: Views on Procreation & Contraception [11-1-19]

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Photo credit: The Seven Sacraments: Confirmation (1645), by Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons]

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