Homily – April 20, 2009 – Second Week of Easter - Monday

As we settle now into the long Easter Season – our first reading is about the necessity of connecting to the life of the risen Christ in the only way that it can effectively be done: by Baptism. As prescribed by Jesus himself, the only way to get in touch with the effects of his death, which transformed all death into life, is to be "born again spiritually" in the waters of baptism.

Jesus tries to explain this to Nicodemus, a Pharisee, who came to see him at night. But Nicodemus does not understand how a man his age could be "born again" now that he is old. "Surely I cannot enter my mother's womb again and be born again!"

But Jesus reply was: O yes, you can! You can enter the womb of the Church, your mother: the waters of baptism; and be born again, not physically, but spiritually. Unless you are born of water and spirit you cannot enter the Kingdom of God. And I want you, and everyone to be in the Kingdom. So be baptized – be born again spiritually!

Most of us are baptized as babies – this is when we are born again, shortly after we are born of our mothers in the first place. But even so – sometimes it is only much later in life that we come to a fuller realization of what happened to us on that day. That experience of that realization can likewise be a "fresh-new-birthing" kind of experience. We can freely choose, then, to be vibrant with what is already alive in us: the life of Christ himself. What a tremendous gift our parents gave us with our "second birth" – making us true "children of God" and recipients of his manifold graces and blessings to help us throughout our lives!

In the first reading today we see Peter and John and the first community of believers – who were saturated with the newness of Christ's risen life – as the first baptized Christians – and they found that with the help of the Holy Spirit – to whom they prayed daily for light, grace and strength – they had what they needed to continue to speak the word of God with boldness to both the Jews and the Greeks.

We too can pray to the Holy Spirit daily, to help us live out our baptismal commission to be proclaimers of the words and works of God – especially by our example of loving service to all in need.

Alleluia! If then we were raised with Christ, let us seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God; and let it make a difference in how we live our daily lives! Alleluia!