Through the Holy Spirit, the human person experiences a spiritual rebirth

Acts 4:32-37, Jn 3:7-15. Today’s first reading relates how the early Christians lived a communal life and shared their possessions. The early Christians at Jerusalem pooled all their resources, such that no one was in financial distress. Within a generation, however, their destitution was such that Paul has to take up a collection during his travels in Greece to support the Church in Jerusalem. The total sharing of goods remained as an ideal for Christians but was not prescribed as a firm rule to be observed by all. The idealism of the early Christians can arouse our desire to relive such a full experience of community. How wonderful it would be if we could share everything we own, care for one another, focus our lives on communal life and rely on God's provision.

None of us, no matter how gifted, can succeed unless our talents are shared with others and balanced by our gifts. Willingness to share helps us keep our balance and can bring real blessings into our lives. Spiritual growth needs community, because that is where the Spirit really dwells. Through the Spirit, the human person experiences a spiritual rebirth. Jesus made this assertion in today's Gospel in His encounter with Nicodemus, one of the members of the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin who was delighted in Him and His teachings. The Lord revealed to Nicodemus what He would do for the sake of His beloved people and told him what they all must do in order to follow Him and receive the fullness of His grace and blessings. He mentioned how He would be raised into glory, raised between the Heaven and the earth, an allusion and revelation of what He would soon suffer through the Passion on the Cross. He would be lifted up for all to see, so that all who see Him, witness Him and believe in Him will not perish but have eternal life, just as how the Israelites who were bitten by the fiery serpents at the time of their rebellion during the Exodus, were spared and saved from death by the bronze serpent that God had instructed Moses to make. The Lord would be raised on His Cross to be the hope and light for all of the nations, that through Him many people would be saved.

May the Lord help us to overcome all envy and dissension and help us to take care of our brothers and sisters in their every need! Amen!! Good morning and have a glorious day!!!