Monday Reflection

Daily Gospel Reflection April 20^th 2020



Gospel                                                                      JN 3:1-8

There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
He came to Jesus at night and said to him,
“Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God,
for no one can do these signs that you are doing
unless God is with him.”
Jesus answered and said to him,
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless one is born from above, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
Nicodemus said to him,
“How can a man once grown old be born again?
Surely he cannot reenter his mother’s womb and be born again, can he?”
Jesus answered,
“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 goes;
so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Dear Friends and Family,

            The imagery of John’s Gospel is rich and compelling.  Jesus tries to explain to Nicodemus a characteristic of the Holy Spirit using the wind.  The wind is one thing we have all experienced in one way or another, but we have never actually seen it.  We see its effects and we see what it does to the things around us like a waving flag or a leaf floating by, but we have not physically seen the wind.  We experience the same thing with the gift of the Holy Spirit; we see its effects, we see what the Spirit does in the lives of friends and family.  We see how the Spirit transforms people’s lives and we see what happens in the live of people who reject that Spirit.

            In my youth, my father bought our family a Sunfish sailboat.  It was a beautiful craft that two people could load into the back of a truck and take to any lake or river.  I lived in Ft. Madison which sits on the edge of the Mississippi River.  Sometimes I would sail with my father, sometimes I would sail with friends.  Whenever the wind would pick up, we would put on our swimsuits and set sail on the river.  To set sail you would literally have to pull the sail up and allow the wind to take it.  The quiet power of the wind would drive us up and down the river with remarkable force and speed.  Once you felt that power, and you let the wind tip the boat up on its edge, you wanted more of it.  The wind would take us places on the river you couldn’t get to any other way.  The wind brought us great joy, excitement, and freedom.  In the same way, life in the Spirit brings a joy and power to this life that can’t be found in this world.  A sailboat does nothing but sit in the water if one does not set the sail.  We must open our lives to the movement of the Spirit and allow that Spirit to take us on a journey that only the Spirit can take us.  God has given each one of us an incredible craft which is gift of our lives, we pray that God will give us the strength and courage to set our sails and allow his Spirit to take us to places that only the Spirit can show us.