Jn 3:1-8
Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.”
Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?”
Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’
The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Where is the Holy Spirit Moving?
The Holy Spirit is my favorite person of the Trinity. Jesus uses the image of the wind that cannot be controlled to describe the Spirit, and that idea is both incredibly accurate and rather disconcerting. If we are overly concerned with sticking to our own plan and controlling for any or every possible outcome, then we are likely to miss the work of the Spirit. On the other hand, if we are open to the sometimes whimsical guidance of the Holy Spirit in our lives, life can become an amazing adventure. When we allow the Spirit to “blow where it chooses,” we may find ourselves somewhere we never would have expected, but which is also exactly the right place for us. The unpredictable can become an incredible blessing, for as St. Ignatius taught, God knows the deepest desires of our hearts even better than we do because he gave them to us.
Where do you feel the Holy Spirit moving in your life right now, and how might you give yourself over to it more fully?
—Mandy Dillon is a Retreat Coordinator at Bellarmine Jesuit Retreat House in Barrington, IL and is also in the Spiritual Direction Internship program there.
Prayer
Lord, please help me to be more open to the work of your Spirit in my life. Let me be better attuned to the ways in which the Holy Spirit works to get my attention and then to be able to follow wherever it may lead. Amen.
—Mandy Dillon