April 13, 2026
Monday of the Second Week of Easter
Or Optional Memorial of Saint Martin I, Pope and Martyr
Gospel: John 3:1-8

Today is Monday of the Second Week of Easter, also the Optional Memorial of Saint Martin I, Pope and Martyr. The Gospel passage from Saint John presents us with a dialogue between Jesus and Nicodemus. I would like to take this opportunity to offer some reflections.

Sometimes, like Nicodemus, we might think of the Kingdom of God that Jesus speaks of as a continuation of all the kingdoms of this world. However, the Kingdom of God that Jesus speaks of is a divine kingdom. In that realm, there is only the God who loves and those loved by God; all are brothers and sisters. There are no longer kings and subjects, nor relationships of leaders and followers.

Sometimes, again like Nicodemus, we might conceive of the new birth spoken of by Jesus as a physical rebirth. Because we do not understand Jesus’ view of life, we imagine rebirth to mean returning to our mother’s womb to be conceived once more and come into this world again. But the new birth Jesus speaks of is receiving His baptism and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, dying with Him, being buried with Him, and beginning a new life in Him. As Saint Paul says: “We know that our old self was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away, that we might no longer be in bondage to sin. For a dead person has been set free from sin” (cf. Rom 6:6-7). This is the view of life that Jesus wants to convey to us.

Dear brothers and sisters: Now that we have received new life in the infinite mercy of Christ, we ought to follow the will of the Holy Spirit, not the will of each of us. The Spirit we follow, as Jesus said to Nicodemus, is like this: “The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (cf. Jn 3:8). A person who truly follows the Holy Spirit will, in daily life, put into practice all that Christ taught, as revealed by the Holy Spirit. He will bear witness to the truth in accordance with the Lord’s precepts and for the glory of God’s holy will. This is so that, through all he does, the world may see Christ lifted high on the cross, and that through the One lifted high on the cross, the world may obtain new life, be forever freed from the bonds of sin and death and thus attain the true freedom of God’s children.

Grant, we pray, almighty God, that we, who have been renewed by paschal remedies, transcending the likeness of our earthly parentage, may be transformed in the image of our heavenly maker. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

©Totus Tuus 2026
Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica