Monday of the Second Week of Easter
Acts 4:23-31  +  John 3:1-8
April 24, 2017

“‘Do not be amazed that I told you, “You must be born from above.”’”

Today’s Gospel passage shows Jesus teaching Nicodemus a lesson about the Holy Spirit.  The First Reading shows the members of the early Church living this lesson.

The Holy Spirit animates the soul of the Christian, who lives her or his life within the Body of Christ.  Sometimes the Holy Spirit is metaphorically called the soul of the Body of Christ.  This image helps us recognize how completely we are to live within the Church.  This image also helps us see how the Holy Spirit must be the source of our every thought and act.

When the first Christians received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, they surely never imagined themselves experiencing the conflicts that we read about in the Acts of the Apostles.  The Holy Spirit led them where they may not previously have been willing to go.  In our own lives, we need to allow the Holy Spirit to animate our lives.  When we do, the Holy Spirit will  make the virtue of humility easier to live, since both the conflicts and victories in our lives are His.