After the prayer, all were filled with the Holy Spirit and proclaimed the word of God frankly.
From the Acts of the Apostles Acts 4:23-31
In those days, when Peter and John were released, they went to their brothers and reported what the chief priests and elders had told them.
When they heard this, they all raised their voices together God saying: "Lord, you who created the heavens, the earth, the sea and all things that are in them, you who, through the Holy Spirit, spoke through the mouth of our father, il tuo servo Davide: “Perché le nazioni si agitarono e i popoli tramarono cose vane?
The kings of the earth rose up and the princes allied together against the Lord and against his Christ”; truly in this city Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the nations and peoples of Israel, have allied themselves against your holy servant Jesus, which you have consecrated, to accomplish what yours hand e la tua volontà avevano deciso che avvenisse.
And now, Lord, turn your gaze to their threats and grant your servants to proclaim your word with all boldness, spreading your hand so that healings, signs and wonders may be performed in the name of your holy servant Jesus".
When they had finished praying, the place where they were gathered shook and all were filled with the Holy Spirit and proclaimed the word of God frankly.
R. Blessed are those who take refuge in you, Lord. Or: R. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.
Because the people are in an uproar and the peoples conspire in vain? The kings of the earth arise and the princes conspire together against the Lord and his anointed: "Let us break their chains, let us throw off their yoke!" R.
Laughs he who is in heaven, the Lord mocks them. He speaks in his wrath, he frightens them with his wrath: “I myself have established my ruler on Zion, my holy mountain." R.
I want to announce the decree of the Lord. He told me: «You are mine son, I created you today. Ask me and I will give you the nations as an inheritance and in your domain the farthest lands. You will break them with an iron scepter, you shall shatter them like a clay pot." R.
Gospel acclamation
Hallelujah, hallelujah.
If you have risen with Christ, look for things above, where is Christ seated to the right of God. (Col 3,1)
Alleluia.
Gospel
Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the realm of God.
The Word of April 17, 2023 4
From the Gospel according to John Jn 3,1-8
There was among the Pharisees a man named Nicodemus, one of the leaders of the Jews.
He went by Jesus, at night, and said to him: «Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a master; in fact no one can perform these signs that you perform, if God it's not with him." She answered him Jesus: "Very truly, I say to you, unless one is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God".
Nicodèmo said to him: «How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter his mother's womb a second time and be reborn?'
He answered Jesus: "Very truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Don't be surprised if I told you: you must be born from above. The wind blows where it wants and you hear its voice, but you don't know where it comes from or where it goes: so is anyone who is born of the Spirit".
Word of the Lord.
Blessed Maria Eugene of the Child Jesus (1894-1967)
“Unless one is born again from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God”
The spiritual childhood made up of jealously preserved poverty belonged to Nicodemus, a man respected among the Jews. He could make it of him, without detracting from what his rank and the exercise of his functions demanded, without adopting childish attitudes and language…
He had to make it his own, because to be reborn to the breath of the Spirit, one must be poor, trusting and completely dependent on God.
Or rather, being born again is nothing but progressively becoming a child.
In fact, while generation in the natural order, which takes place in the mother's womb, develops in a progressive separation until the child can live its independent and perfect life, spiritual generation takes place in the opposite direction with a progressive assimilation into the 'unit.
Separated from God with sin, we are illuminated by his light, caught up in the ever closer bond of his love, until, having become true children, we lose ourselves in her bosom, living only on her life and her Spirit.
“For all who are led by the Spirit of God, they are sons of God” (Rom 8:14), that is, those who, due to spiritual poverty and detachment from themselves, have lost their projects and have entered the bosom of God where their life and their movements depend entirely on the Spirit who generates.
This is the value of spiritual childhood. Perfectly realized it is already holiness.
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER
Jesus tells Nicodemus that to “see the kingdom of God” we must “be born from above”.
It is not a question of starting afresh to be born, of repeating our coming into the world. […]
No, it's not that, this being born again he's talking about Jesus: it's another thing. This life is precious in the eyes of God: identifies us as creatures loved by Him with tenderness.
The "birth from above", which allows us to "enter" the realm of God, is a generation in the Spirit, a passage through the waters to the promised land of a creation reconciled with thelove of God.
It is a rebirth from above, with the grace of God. (General audience, 8 June 2022)
