“I tell you most solemnly, unless a man is born through water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God: what is born of the flesh is flesh; what is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3: 5-6)
Without the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, we cannot enter the kingdom of God. The world and Satan would be too strong for us to overcome by our own means. How do we get this presence and power? In Baptism, we receive the Holy Spirit. In the sacrament of Confirmation, “we receive the full outpouring of the Holy Spirit as once granted to the apostles on the day of Pentecost.” (CCC #1302)
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches further that “Confirmation brings an increase and deepening of baptismal grace:
- it roots us more deeply in the divine filiation which makes us cry, ‘Abba! Father!’
- it unites us more firmly to Christ;
- it increases the gifts of the Holy Spirit in us;
- it renders our bond with the Church more perfect;
- it gives us a special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by world and action as true witnesses of Christ, to confess the name of Christ boldly, and never to be ashamed of the Cross.” (CCC #1303)
We need the Holy Spirit to succeed.
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