A little fantasy now and then is relished by the wisest men. I would like to meet Lydia of to-day's first reading. She seems to have been a very attractive person, a great advertisment for the young Christian church. She was an independent spirit, a business woman and a hospitable person who enjoyed company. She was also "a worshipper of God." Two other persons in the Acts are referred to in similar terms. They were the Ethiopian official baptised by Philip and Cornelius, the Roman officer baptised by Peter.

Like the Jews the three believed in the One God. They attended the synagogue or a Jewish prayer place where there was no synagogue. They accepted Jewish ethical values and were generous, open-hearted people who gladly received the Christian message when it was presented to them. They did so despite the inconveniences and dangers which follow on almost any change of religious affiliation.

The Gospel also shows us where Lydia and Cornelius and the Ethiopian got the strength to face these difficulties. The whispering of the Holy Spirit can become a powerful voice of support.

On Easter Saturday many thousands of men and women, young and old, all over the world joined Lydia and Cornelius and the Ethiopian when they received Baptism. The Holy Spirit is at work in the world of 2009.