Easter Week 2 Monday

Readings: Acts 4.23-31; Psalm 2; John 3.1-8

One of the most striking things coming through in the readings these days is the change in the apostles and disciples. Think of what they were like just two weeks ago - fearful, cowardly, timid - and think of what they are like now - boldly preaching a message which is not just of personal concern but of world historical and even cosmological significance. For some people it is one of the strongest arguments for the truth of the Resurrection: the most plausible explanation for the change in the disciples is that Jesus rose from the dead and they encountered him in the days and weeks following his Resurrection. How else could you explain it?

Some believers in Christ speak in this way: 'I was saved when I was 14', or 'I was saved when I was 26', or 'When I was 42 I accepted Jesus as my personal Lord and Saviour'. You know immediately that you are not listening to Catholic believers but to people who will describe themselves as 'born-again Christians'. The idea of being 'born again' has never taken that form in Catholic Christianity. What Jesus says to Nicodemus in today's gospel, about the need to be born again, from above, in water and the Holy Spirit, has been experienced in quite a different way in Catholicism. To claim a certainty about personal salvation would be regarded (especially among Irish Catholics!) as presumption or pride. Essential to the Catholic understanding is the belief that we are saved 'in hope'. We believe that the saving work of Christ is objectively complete in its historical and cosmological significance. But subjectively, in the case of human beings who are still working out their salvation as St Paul puts it, its consequences have not yet been fully revealed or fully achieved. We are yet to make up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ (St Paul again).

The new birth in water clearly refers to baptism. To be born again in the Spirit raises the more interesting questions. But both are needed, Jesus says, if we are to be transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of the Beloved Son. To be really alive with the life which is ours in Christ, to be transformed as the disciples were and made to be new people in the new creation, then we must be born again from above. It is a case of 'already and not yet': we are already the children of God while what we are to be in the future has not been revealed.

Eternal life is already ours if we have been re-born in the waters of baptism. There are many days of our ordinary lives when it will not seem like that! But it is not just a matter of feeling. Hopefully each believer will have moments of inspiration and encouragement when they experience not only the 'not yet' of eternal life but also its 'already' aspect. The Holy Spirit blows where it will. The readings today give us a picture of a transformed life: we see it in how the disciples are now living. The readings call us to be open to the Spirit who always hovers over the waters, waiting, waiting to give effect to the Word of God. The Lord has already spoken and the Spirit has already been breathed on the disciples: it is up to us to hear and to act on what we hear the Lord is saying to us.