Monday, June 2, 2025

 

Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter

(Acts 19:1-8; John 16:19-23)

With Pentecost less than a week away, the Church supplies Mass readings that focus on the Holy Spirit.  In today’s reading from Acts, the Spirit’s effect on believers is visually described.

The disciples of John the Baptist heard of the coming Messiah but were baptized according to John’s rite of repentance.  Only being able to recognize their sins, they experienced difficulty reforming their lives.  Paul arrives to help them.  He likely gives them instructions regarding the Spirit before he baptizes in the name of Jesus.  Immediately they show the Spirit’s effects by living in a new way.  They speak in tongues, praise the Lord, and hold forth prophetically about the good they must do.

The Holy Spirit is inviting us to pray these days that we may more energetically live what we believe.  He will come to show us how to bring about peace through selfless love.