Monday of the Second Week in Easter, April16, 2007

Scripture: Acts 4:23-31. Psalm 2:1-3,4-6,7-9. John 3:1-8. Lectionary #267:

All of us like celebrations and Easter is the time in which we celebrate
our new life in Christ both through uniting ourselves to the readings about
the Resurrection of Jesus and to the sacrament of the Eucharist and that of
Baptism which essentially is a sacrament of new birth into the family of
God, the Trinity. That is why we are signed with water in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Baptism is essential to our
appreciation and celebration of Easter and we often pray for those who are
to be baptized at the Vigil and then continue our prayers for them during
this Easter Season. Today both in Luke's Acts of the Apostles and in the
selection about Nicodemus from John's Gospel we reflect on the role of the
Holy Spirit in the community of believers and in the sacrament of our
Baptism. The Acts remind us that it is through the Spirit that the
disciples come to know more about Jesus by becoming aware of the whole of
their Bible, the Tanach (Torah, Prophets, Psalms or Writings). Psalm 2 is
explicitly cited as Messianic for the Jewish Christian community that has
been formed in Jerusalem through the descent of the Holy Spirit. It is the
response that interprets the selection of Acts and thus speaks to us in our
prayerful singing of it as a response and in our learning of its
relationship to the Acts. Jesus is the chosen son of God who descended
humanly through the messianic lineage of David as the Psalm indicates. Our
Jewish brothers and sisters do not consider this a messianic psalm, but the
first Jewish Christian community did and we do today. The disciples pray
and the Holy Spirit gives them the same power and confidence that Jesus had
in his preaching, his healing, and his driving out of evil forces. Then
our Gospel directly has Jesus speaking of baptism which is the sacrament of
"being born again" or being born "from above" (the Greek word for this
phrase has both meanings). Jesus dialogues with the discreet Pharisee
named Nicodemus who will be a defender of Jesus during the judgment against
him, and also will take part in burying Jesus with precious aromatic
spices. He is only mentioned in the Fourth Gospel. I am sure that he
became a disciple of Jesus through his sensitivity to the goodness he saw
in Jesus throughout his contacts with him. I am led to renew my baptismal
commitment during this season and to thank God for the gift of this
sacrament of faith wherein I was signed in the name of the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit. I will try to recall the scriptures of today by
linking them to my recitation of the Creed whereby Jesus, the Son of God,
became Son of Mary for our salvation. Amen. Both the Incarnation and the
Redemption are part of this baptismal sacrament. Amen.