Acts 4:23-31
Ps 2:1-3 4-7a 7b-9
Jn 3:1-8
Ps 2:1-3 4-7a 7b-9
Jn 3:1-8
These readings given today would also be appropriate on the Monday after Pentecost. In the first reading, the people, after hearing Peter and John's report of their appearance before the chief priests and elders, offered a powerful prayer of praise to God and asked Him to enable them to continue to speak His word. As they prayed, "they were filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness."
The Responsorial Psalm continues the theme with the response: "Blessed are all who take refuge in the Lord."
In the Gospel, Jesus tells us that unless we are born of water and Spirit, one cannot enter the Kingdom of God. Then He says "The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound that it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
During these uncertain days, when everywhere you look the Church is under fire for either being to conservative, too liberal; where the news constantly reminds us of the sins of a few priests, it is important to look back at the hardships the apostles went through spreading the Good News of The Risen Christ. The Holy Spirit is there for us to give us courage and determination to face up to those detractors.
The Church has gone through hard times before, but as Christ told Peter, "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
Bob Kolesar
The Responsorial Psalm continues the theme with the response: "Blessed are all who take refuge in the Lord."
In the Gospel, Jesus tells us that unless we are born of water and Spirit, one cannot enter the Kingdom of God. Then He says "The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound that it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
During these uncertain days, when everywhere you look the Church is under fire for either being to conservative, too liberal; where the news constantly reminds us of the sins of a few priests, it is important to look back at the hardships the apostles went through spreading the Good News of The Risen Christ. The Holy Spirit is there for us to give us courage and determination to face up to those detractors.
The Church has gone through hard times before, but as Christ told Peter, "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
Bob Kolesar
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