Tuesday of the Second Week of Easter
Today’s Gospel reading, from St. John’s Gospel , focuses on the Sacrament of Baptism. We know this not only from Jesus’ discussion of spiritual rebirth, but also from His emphasis on being born again (or from above) by water and the Spirit in the immediate context preceding the section in today’s reading, and also at the end of this passage immediately following the section we have in today’s reading, where Jesus finishes this discussion and His disciples go out and baptize.
Baptism, as we see throughout the New Testament, makes us one in Christ. Through our baptism, we all become co-equal members of the body of Christ, despite our diverse gifts and roles within that body. Regardless of whether we are male or female, regardless of our culture, regardless of our age or economic situation, or health, we have been made one with one another and with Christ, through our baptism.
This unity carries with it much responsibility. It means we need to care for one another as we would members of our own immediate family. When we see a brother or a sister in need, we need to do our best to help meet that need. We catch a glimpse of this in today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, where the earliest Christians shared all in common, and there were no needy among them, because what was needed was distributed among them (Acts 4:34-35).
This passage should challenge us to examine how well we take care of the family of God in our midst. As we continue in the great season of Easter, perhaps we can think of concrete ways to help alleviate the suffering of our brothers and sisters in the faith, and meet their needs. Today, who is it that we can be a Christian with Easter spirit to?
We need to help spread the Easter joy and hope of the resurrection to others, as did the earliest followers of Jesus in the wake of the resurrection experience the apostles had. With Easter, we too have had our own resurrection experience, which we experience at one level at each and every Mass, as we did at our baptism. Let us help meet the needs of those around us by living out the implications and responsibilities of our baptism, and let us do this with the joy of Easter in our hearts.
- Jeff Morrow