Word to the Wise
Monday, April 28, 2025 - 2nd Week of Easter - Mon
[Acts 4:23-31 and John 3:1-8]As they prayed, the place where they were gathered shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness. [Acts] "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one is born of water and Spirit he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. What is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I told you, 'You must be born from above,' The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it does; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." [John]
It is not yet the feast of Pentecost and we are already hearing much about the Holy Spirit!! The passage from chapter 4 of the Acts of the Apostles seems to repeat or reinforce the first account in chapter 2 (the one we celebrate on Pentecost Sunday). Yesterday, (Sunday) we heard the account from the Gospel According to John ("Receive the Holy Spirit...." John 20:22). In today's gospel scripture, again from the Gospel According to John, we have the dialogue between Jesus and Nicodemus about the Holy Spirit. Theologians refer to the whole subject of the role of the Holy Spirit as "pneumatology," from the Greek word, pneuma, which means "spirit."
For many Catholics and other Christians, the role of the Holy Spirit is relegated to sacramental events like baptism and confirmation. I can remember a rather narrow catechetical interpretation from my grade school days that suggested that the "gifts of the Holy Spirit" were received at confirmation and the Holy Spirit flew away. But the gospel scripture today gives a broader perspective that refuses to confine the Holy Spirit to one event like Pentecost or Confirmation. Those "gifts" are more like a continual support to anyone open to them. St. Paul testifies eloquently to this in 1st Corinthians 12:1-11.
The constant presence of the Holy Spirit is the fulfillment of Jesus' promise, "I will not leave you as orphans!" [John 14:18]. These days after Easter will help us to remember that. AMEN