PRAYER: “GRANT, WE PRAY, ALMIGHTY GOD, THAT WE, WHO HAVE BEEN RENEWED BY PASCHAL REMEDIES, TRANSCENDING THE LIKENESS OF OUR EARTHLY PARENTAGE, MAY BE TRANSFORMED IN THE IMAGE OF OUR HEAVENLY MAKER. THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, YOUR SON, WHO LIVES AND REIGNS WITH YOU IN THE UNITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, GOD, FOR EVER AND EVER. AMEN”
Acts 4:23-31; Ps 2:1-9 and Jn 3:1-8.
Scriptures today present to us how the Church begins to manifest the special role of the Holy Spirit. The Apostles pray for and receive boldness of speech, healing touch, signs and wonders. These are special roles of the Holy Spirit, which are demonstrated by and through those who receive the Holy Spirit. The Apostles received the Holy Spirit and his roles on the Day of Pentecost (Cf. Acts 2). Nicodemus, the then afraid and “boldless” Jewish ruler, has to come to Jesus at night and confesses that God is with Jesus (Cf. Jn 3:1ff). Nicodemus has not yet received the Holy Spirit and his roles and this probably accounts for his fear and not being bold. Thus, Jesus tells him that he must be born from above (born again), “born of water and Spirit” before he can enter the Kingdom of God. This connotes Baptism and Confirmation, or John the Baptist’s baptism and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and his gifts on the Day of Pentecost.
We are born from above at our baptism and confirmation. We receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit at our baptism and confirmation. This implies that there should be no reason any of us should not be bold or we should be afraid as witnesses of the Risen Christ. Peter and John are bold enough to witness and testify that the lame man can walk because of the name of the Risen Christ. They are scolded, put in cells and forced not to speak about the Risen Lord again, but with boldness, they tell their persecutors that it is better to obey God than man.
While we admire the courage and boldness of Peter and John, there is a need to ask myself if when I am confronted in the face of my faith and witnessing to the Risen Christ, I will be bold enough to opt for Christ. A lot of us may choose the ‘Nicodemus’ attitude of hiding or demonstrating we are Christians only in the darkness or in the ‘night’. A lot of believers have received the Holy Spirit and His roles to enable us to witness credibly to the Lord, but fear and other vices in us have sort of stifled the Holy Spirit in us, thereby rendering us inactive and dormant Christians.
Am I a dormant Christian, who, out of fear and other personal weaknesses I am not able to live my Christian life worthy of my calling? Learn today from Nicodemus. Acknowledge and see Jesus in my life as Rabbi and a teacher, who has come from God, and who can perform signs and wonders that only those who are with God are able to perform. In his name, or at the mention of his name in faith, wonders and miracles happen. May the Saint Martin we celebrate today intercede for us. Stay blessed by the Lord and may your working week, which you begin today, be fruitful.
WE MEDITATE TODAY, MONDAY, ON THE JOYFUL MYSTERIES: ‘THE ANNUNCIATION, THE VISITATION, THE BIRTH OF JESUS, THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE AND THE FINDING OF THE CHILD JESUS IN THE TEMPLE’. (LET US PRAY FOR HUMILITY, LOVE OF NEIGHBOUR, POVERTY IN SPIRIT, OBEDIENCE AND JOY IN FINDING JESUS) “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus: Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us, sinners, now and at the hour of our death, Amen”.
PRAYER: “LOOK WITH KINDNESS UPON YOUR PEOPLE, O LORD, AND GRANT, WE PRAY, THAT THOSE YOU WERE PLEASED TO RENEW BY ETERNAL MYSTERIES MAY ATTAIN IN THEIR FLESH THE INCORRUPTIBLE GLORY OF THE RESURRECTION. THROUGH CHRIST OUR LORD. AMEN”.
Rev. Fr. Aloysius Kpiebaya, Catholic Diocese of Wa, UW/R, Ghana. (00233) 0207867239/0545462863. Email: aloybaya20@yahoo.com
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