Do we receive the Holy Spirit in baptism?

[JDubs]

My church’s mission statement states, “At baptism we were filled with the Holy Spirit…” I thought that at baptism our sins are washed away and that we are filled with the Holy Spirit at confirmation.

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

It is true that we receive the Holy Spirit in baptism because we receive the supernatural grace of God in that sacrament. Confirmation perfects that grace and strengthens our union with God and his Church. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains:

Holy Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit (vitae spiritualis ianua), and the door which gives access to the other sacraments. Through baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission: “Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration through water in the word” (CCC 1213).

Confirmation perfects Baptismal grace; it is the sacrament which gives the Holy Spirit in order to root us more deeply in the divine filiation, incorporate us more firmly into Christ, strengthen our bond with the Church, associate us more closely with her mission, and help us bear witness to the Christian faith in words accompanied by deeds (CCC 1316).