April 13, 2026 // Monday of the Second Week of Easter // Optional Memorial of Saint Martin I, Pope and Martyr
Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Gospel: John 3:1-8
Reflect on the Word //
There’s nothing quite like feeling a warm breeze after living through months of winter. Here in northern Canada the slightest winter wind makes an already cold day feel like the air is piercing your skin with tiny knives. But when the warm breeze finally appears in the spring, it feels like the welcome harbinger of the warm air almost mysteriously appearing and beginning to thaw the outside world.
In the Gospel, Nicodemus comes seeking more from Jesus whom he recognizes has been sent by God. I can imagine he is dying to ask Jesus what the exact things are that we can do so that we know we’re going to Heaven. But the answer Jesus gives of being born again of water and the Spirit shatters any easy answers. What Jesus shares about the life of Faith is mysterious. Being born again by water and the Spirit? This is not something that is within our power or capacity as human beings; only through the power of God through Baptism can this new birth occur. Jesus speaks of being completely transformed by the power of God, a transformation that also requires living by faith.
How else but through faith can we live in the freedom and trust of following the grace of the Spirit when it blows through our lives like the wind? The graces we receive sometimes come strongly and undeniably, but many times softly, gently, and sporadically. Just as we can see the effects of the wind, feel its breeze upon our skin, and hear it rustle through the leaves, we also know that we are not in control of it; it is completely outside our power. The life of the Spirit which Jesus speaks of today relies on having the faith to trust in a life we cannot control, the life of grace.
Sometimes our faith becomes cold, like a long Canadian winter. But, the truth is that we have been born again through water and Spirit. We just have to tap into the warmth of grace offered to us the Sacraments and we will see the effects of grace.
Relate to the Lord // How do you perceive the warm wind of the Spirit moving in your life right now?
Christy Isinger is a cradle Catholic, wife, and mother of five teenagers from western Canada. During the short Canadian summers she tries to garden and grow flowers, while in the long cold winters she reads a lot of books, writes, and homeschools. Her Substack newsletter can be found at christyisinger.substack.com.
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