Peter and John pray for these new converts, baptize them and lay hands on them to receive the Holy Spirit, ritual actions that inspire the sacraments of initiation, baptism and confirmation.

Our Take In the first reading today, the apostles receive the Holy Spirit in a dramatic fashion, and, immediately, they are able to speak to the crowds.

Jesus had to reassure His disciples before he left them that it was expedient for Him to go but He would not leave them as orphans but I will send you a Helper (John 14:18). He was referring to the ...

The first gift of the Holy Spirit was reserved just for the apostles, who Jesus visited behind locked doors. Now, in the Upper Room, the Holy Spirit is given to Mary and them.

When the risen Jesus appeared for the first time to the disciples huddled behind locked doors, he spoke to them reassuringly, "breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit' " (John ...

And this coming Sunday we mark the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit of God descended upon those very same disciples. The period of 10 days in-between is called Ascensiontide.

In the video the apostles witness a strange event, including a mighty rushing wind and tongues of fire, which they believe to be the gift of the Holy Spirit, which Jesus had promised them.

After Pentecost, Peter proclaims, “Repent and be baptized…for the forgiveness of sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38).

In the Pentecost account in the first Mass reading from the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:1–11), not only do the Apostles receive the fullness of divine revelation despite being unschooled in the ...