Jesus tells Nicodemus, “You must be born from above.” He compares this new birth to the wind: we can feel it, yet we do not know where it comes from or where it goes. In Greek, the word he uses is pneuma, a single word that can mean wind, breath, or spirit. Wind moves invisibly yet powerfully. Breath gives life. Spirit transforms hearts. The pneuma moves around us, upon us, and within us, carrying the life of God in our hearts and through our actions.

It was the breath of God that gave life in the beginning. The same divine breath that animated creation now animates our lives of faith. The Spirit continues to move, changing lives, awakening hearts, and renewing us.

“…We speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen…” (John 3:11)

We are witnesses of the Spirit. From what we have seen, we live by passing the message forward. This has been the work of believers since the earliest days of the Church: “The community of believers was of one heart and mind,” and “with great power the Apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.”

That same Holy Spirit lives in us now and can move freely wherever it wills, if we are willing to witness to its presence with our lives. But are we willing?

Perhaps Nicodemus struggled to understand because he had not yet experienced the Spirit within him. He had not yet seen what Jesus was trying to reveal. The work of the Spirit cannot easily be reduced to simple explanations. It becomes clearer when it is lived and seen in practice.

So, the question remains: how do we live so that others may experience the Spirit alive in God’s faithful people? Let us learn to be faithful witnesses.

Let us pray:

Lord, help us to be open in mind and heart to Your promptings of love, mercy, and compassion. May our actions, guided by the hand of the Holy Spirit, reveal to the world the greatness of Your Holy name, so that You may be exalted, loved, and adored at every altar and every heart in every corner of the world. Amen.