The followers of Jesus felt threatened from every side. They were being persecuted for the sake of the Way. But rather than give up or run away they prayed even harder - so hard in fact that the building in which they were gathered shook! The gift of the Spirit was not deliverance from threats or danger but the courage and grace to proclaim Jesus with boldness. The Spirit gives us the courage and determination to do what is difficult or frightening - it does not remove those things from our lives.

The Kingdom of God is not a place or thing but a way of living and being. It is newness and a fresh start. Jesus insisted that one has to be born from above in order to 'see' the Kingdom. When Nicodemus approached Jesus he did not expect such a puzzling and radical response. To grow closer to God we cannot just continue in a rut, following the same habits, traditions, ideas, and so on. When we are given the gift of the Spirit it is like a second birth. We learn what it is like to be truly human - that is, human in a divine way. In a sense, this is like spiritual enlightenment. We will then be able to understand spiritual things and to make sense out of our chaotic world. Let us pray for new eyes and a new heart.