Reading and meditation on the Word of God on Monday of the 2nd week of Easter, April 17, 2023
FULL WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT
Our meditation today has the theme: Full with the Holy Spirit. The conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus in today's Gospel presents a challenge to the faith that we all face today. The challenge is about our renewal of faith that brings in us a spiritual experience which is called rebirth or born again. Through the light of the risen Christ, we are encouraged to understand and to believe, that rebirth is indeed very necessary for us. But this is not a biological rebirth, meaning to say, a human person returns to the mother's womb and then to be born a second time.
This is actually about to change a biological understanding of rebirth into a rebirth from the water and from the Spirit. The birth from water is an act of cleansing of sins, and this reminds us of the baptism in the Jordan river made by John the Baptist. While the birth from the Spirit is the actual baptism in the Holy Spirit to make the one baptized united with Jesus Christ. The sacrament of baptism that we have in the Church today reflects what had been expressed during the time of Jesus as the Scriptures speak about the rebirth from water and from the Spirit.
The baptized persons are those who are filled by the Holy Spirit. Long before our baptism in the Church, the apostles gathered and prayed in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. The outcome of this outpouring gifts of the Holy Spirit was the preaching of the Gospel by the apostles and disciples of Jesus done with so extraordinary and courageous ways. The fullness of the Holy Spirit that we receive in baptism is then strengthened in the Sacrament of Confirmation. In principle, every person who has received this sacrament is considered to have the ability to preach the gospel through knowledge, words, deeds, and actual life. He or she also dares to defend the faith even though the challenges and difficulties are great and never stop. Normally, when faith growths and developes, challenges and difficulties become greater.
What so vital and basic to our being fullness of the Holy Spirit is the renewal of faith. The problem of Nicodemus was all about his situation in the past during the time of Jesus, and it is so different from our situation. But the challenge is the same, that is, the faith obtained through the Sacraments of initiation needs its renewal. As we pray the profession of faith or the Apostles’ creed in regular basis, we need to renew our baptism through this prayer. The Eucharist which we celebrate daily or weekly is the way we renew our reception of the First Communion in the Church. The blessing that we always receive in liturgical celebrations becomes the moment of our renewal of the sacrament of Confirmation that we have received.
Every time as we do these renewals, it is worth remembering and realizing that we are actually full with the Holy Spirit.
Let's pray. In the name of the Father ... O Holy Father, may Your Spirit always strengthen our faith so that our lives are always guided and illuminated by that faith. Hail Mary full of grace ... In the name of the Father ...