Prayer is powerful, especially when people join together and pray with the heart and soul and not just the lips. Luke tells us that when the community gathered and prayed the whole house shook. Do we see fervent prayer of this sort in our own communities? They are praying for something very important: boldness and courage to proclaim God's work and to continue the work of Jesus even in the face of resistance and persecution. Perhaps we do not face real persecution. In our own time, opposition can come from the indifference or materialism of our own cultures and societies. It is hard to swim against the current, especially when other might reject us or laugh at us. Justice - nonviolence - forgiveness - equality - love: these things are in short supply in our world. Let us band together with others and pray for the grace to make a difference.

Poor Nicodemus receives an unexpected answer from Jesus, who tells him that he must be 'born from above' (it can also mean 'born again') in order to see the Kingdom of God. He understands it in a literal manner - as we so often do with Scripture - and it seems impossible. Jesus is using a symbol or metaphor. He is insisting that mere human reason and human effort are not enough. We need God in a big way; we need the Spirit that God gives us. Being born again and from above means to start over - just as a little child learns the ways of the world, we need to learn the ways of God.