Something happened to him.

​Just over 50 days before, outside of the high priest’s house, he denied Jesus three times. Now, in the very presence of the high priest, and all who were of the high priestly class, Peter, on trial for healing a man in the name of Jesus, proclaims: “He is ‘the stone rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.’ There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved” (Acts 4:11–12). ​

Something happened to Peter. He is different now. He is no longer afraid. 

So . . . what happened? 

The Holy Spirit happened. ​
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Receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost transformed Peter and those other disciples of Jesus who were gathered in the Upper Room. 

The sacrament of Confirmation is like our own personal Pentecost. The Catechism announces, “It is evident from its celebration that the effect of the sacrament of Confirmation is the special outpouring of the Holy Spirit as once granted to the apostles on the day of Pentecost” (1302). 

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In Confirmation, something amazing happens to us if we allow it to happen. Actually, many things (CCC 1303): ​

• 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 word and action as true witnesses of Christ, to confess the name of Christ boldly, and never to be ashamed of the Cross

​We are not called to live in fear, but in the confidence of knowing that we are beloved, adopted sons and daughters of God. This adoption is made possible through the Holy Spirit. Confirmation is the sacrament that makes this objective event possible today. ​