came to preach it.

*98 Q. How did the Holy Ghost come down upon the Apostles?
A. The Holy Ghost came down upon the Apostles in the form of tongues of
fire.

99 Q. Who sent the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles?
A. Our Lord Jesus Christ sent the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles.

100 Q. Why did Christ send the Holy Ghost?
A. Christ sent the Holy Ghost to sanctify His Church, to enlighten and
strengthen the Apostles, and to enable them to preach the Gospel.

"Sanctify," to make more holy by the grace which He would give to the
members of the Church. "To enlighten." The Apostles did not understand
very well everything Our Lord taught while He was with them; but after
the Holy Ghost came upon them they understood perfectly, and remembered
many things which Our Lord said to them, and understood the true meaning
of all. The prophets foretold that when the Messias, Christ, would come,
He would bring all the world under His power. The prophets meant in a
spiritual sense; but most of the people understood that He was to be a
great general, with powerful armies, who would subdue all the nations of
the earth, and bring them under the authority of the Jews. We know they
thought that the great kingdom He was to establish upon earth would be a
temporal kingdom, from many of their sayings and actions. One day the
mother of two of Our Lord's Apostles came to ask Him if, when He had
established His kingdom upon the earth, He would give her sons honorable
positions in it, and place them high in authority. (Matt. 20:20). Our
Lord told her she did not understand what she was asking. This shows
that even some of the Apostles--much less the people--did not understand
the full nature of Our Lord's mission upon earth, nor of His kingdom,
the Church. Often too, when He preached to the people, the Apostles
asked Him on His return what His sermon meant (Luke 8:9). But after the
Holy Ghost came, they were enlightened, and understood all without
difficulty. "Strengthen." I told you already that before the Holy Ghost
came they were timid and afraid of being arrested, but that afterwards
they went out boldly, and taught all they had learned from Our Lord.
They were often taken prisoners and scourged, but it mattered not--they
were firm in their faith, and could suffer anything for Christ after
they had been enlightened and strengthened by the Holy Ghost. Finally,
they were all, with the exception of St. John, put to death for their
holy faith. St. Peter