April 20, 2004 - Tuesday, 2nd Week of Easter

ONE HEART AND ONE MIND

Readings:
Acts 4:32-37; Ps 93:1ab, 1cd-2, 5; Jn 3:7-15

Introduction

We know from disappointing experiences how difficult it is to be a real community. We are different personalities with different ideas, attitudes and potentials. The great obstacle is we ourselves: we want people to go our way, we impose our own views. In our Christian communities there is one who can unite us in himself. It is Jesus, our model and our Lord. We believe that we come together here in his name and for his sake. He is alive and present among us. He brings us together in one faith and one love. It is a lifelong task. Can we be one heart and one soul in him?

Opening Prayer

All praise and thanks be to you,
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
You have given us your risen Son
to be alive in our communities.
Make us see him with eyes of faith,
that he may unite us, heart and soul.
May his dynamic presence among us
move us to become with him,
each other's bread of life,
that no one among us may hunger
for food or help when in need.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Liturgy of the Word

First Reading: Acts 4:32-37

The community of believers was of one heart and mind,
and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own,
but they had everything in common.
With great power the Apostles bore witness
to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,
and great favor was accorded them all.
There was no needy person among them,
for those who owned property or houses would sell them,
bring the proceeds of the sale,
and put them at the feet of the Apostles,
and they were distributed to each according to need.

Thus Joseph, also named by the Apostles Barnabas
(which is translated "son of encouragement"),
a Levite, a Cypriot by birth,
sold a piece of property that he owned,
then brought the money and put it at the feet of the Apostles.

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 93:1ab, 1cd-2, 5

R (1a) The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty. Or: R Alleluia.

The LORD is king, in splendor robed;
robed is the LORD and girt about with strength.
R (1a) The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty. Or: R Alleluia.

And he has made the world firm,
not to be moved.
Your throne stands firm from of old;
from everlasting you are, O LORD.
R (1a) The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty. Or: R Alleluia.

Your decrees are worthy of trust indeed:
holiness befits your house,
O LORD, for length of days.
R (1a) The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty. Or: R Alleluia.

Gospel Reading: Jn 3:7-15

Jesus said to Nicodemus, "Because of this, don't be surprised when I say: 'You must be born again from above.'

"The wind blows where it pleases and you hear its sound, but you don't know where it comes from or where it is going. It is like that with everyone who is born of the Spirit."

Nicodemus asked again, "How can this be?" And Jesus answered, "You are a teacher in Israel, and you don't know these things!

"Truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and we witness to the things we have seen, but you don't accept our testimony. If you don't believe when I speak of earthly things, what then, when I speak to you of heavenly things? No one has ever gone up to heaven except the one who came from heaven, the Son of Man.

"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that whoever believes in him may have eternal life."

Commentary

IN Hebrew and Aramaic, the scholars tell us, the same word means "spirit", "breath", and "wind". These are well known and yet unknown realities. Of the four elements-fire, air, earth and water-only earth has fixed shapes; and in the long term even these shapes are not fixed. But the most volatile of the elements is air. The world is perpetually changing, and it's hard to "get a fix on it," as they say. But do we have to get a fix on it before we can live in it? Not at all. We live quite successfully with the unfixed and the unknown. In fact there is no fixity anywhere, except as a thought in the mind.

"Just as you do not know how the breath comes to the bones in the mother's womb, so you do not know the work of God, who makes everything" (Qoheleth, 11:5). The words of Jesus in today's passage may be an echo of that verse. "The wind blows where it pleases…. It is like that with everyone who is born of the Spirit." It is the same then with the Holy Spirit as with wind, spirit, breath.

Alan Watts once remarked that "a certain type of mind is frightened by the mutability, the elusiveness, and the mystery of life, and thinks of salvation as a state of everlasting fixity and certainty from which the disconcerting elements of spontaneity, surprise and mystery are largely removed."

General Intercessions

- Risen Lord, be greater and stronger than our divisions. Unite all those who believe in you, we pray:

- Risen Lord, you have given your people new hearts. In our communities, make us one heart and one soul, we pray:

- Risen Lord, that the best witnessing we give to you may be that we accept one another and care for one another and serve one another, we pray:

Prayer over the Gifts

Our God and father,
we ask you for food and drink
and you give us your Son.
May no one in our communities go hungry
or feel abandoned when in distress,
but may we learn from your Son Jesus
to be faithful companions to all who need us.
With our solace and support
may we also give them ourselves,
as Jesus did and still does for us,
he who is our Lord for ever.

Prayer after Communion

God our Father,
we have encountered your Son Jesus in faith
in this eucharistic celebration.
With him by our side,
may we be a deeply believing community
in which love and sharing
are no empty words,
a community which keeps dreaming
that we can find one another
and create a new future together
through him in whom we have been reborn,
Jesus Christ, our risen Lord for ever.

Blessing

One heart and one soul. How dare we say so? We are still far away from this demand of our faith. But we keep hoping. Keep also growing toward it, with the blessing of almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

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