Now of course the whole Post Office is not going to come to your door with the present from the Queen.  It will be brought by what we call an official representative of the Post Office, that is, the postal worker who delivers parcels.  So, when you are confirmed, the whole Church of God does not come along, but instead Our Lord’s gift of the Holy Spirit is given to you by one of his official representatives, the bishop.  So the bishop is the minister of the Sacrament.

Now when the postal worker knocks at your door and you open it, although he has the present in his hand you do not actually see it.  You see only the wrapper.  So in Confirmation, you do not see the gift of the Holy Spirit; you see only the outward sign, that is, the laying on of hands by the bishop, by means of which the gift of the Holy Spirit comes to you.  The outward sign is called the matter of the Sacrament.

Let’s suppose the present from the Queen is a beautiful glass ornament.  On the outside of the wrapper will be a label with the word GLASS on it.  So you will know what the present is even though you cannot see it.  So, besides the matter of Confirmation, the laying on of hands, the bishop also says a form of words to show what is the gift that you are receiving in the Sacrament:

“Confirm, O Lord, your servant with your Holy Spirit”. (1)

In the Ordination to the Priesthood, the matter is the same as in Confirmation, the laying on of hands; but the form of words is different:

“Send down the Holy Spirit on your servant N (Name)
for the office and work of a priest in your Church”. (2)

The words which go with the matter of a Sacrament are known as the form of the Sacrament.

And so at last we come to the actual present from the Queen which is inside the wrapper.  The gift from Jesus in Confirmation is the Holy Spirit of God.  We call the actual gift in a Sacrament the inward grace of the Sacrament.