With Open Hearts and Open Hands

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Easter Feria 

Today's Readings:
[ Acts 4:32-37; Ps 93; Jn 3:7-15 ]

The readings today draw us into a vision of life that is both deeply spiritual and profoundly practical, a life “born from above” yet lived out in the dust and detail of community.

In Acts, we see a striking image of the early Church: “the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul”. This unity was not merely sentimental. It took flesh in radical generosity—“no one claimed private ownership of any possessions”, and “there was not a needy person among them”. This is the fruit of resurrection life, the evidence of a people transformed by grace.

From a Franciscan perspective, this passage resonates deeply. St. Francis embraced holy poverty not as deprivation, but as freedom... freedom to love, to give, to depend wholly on God. The early Christians lived this same spirit: hands open, hearts open, trusting that God’s abundance is enough.

Psalm 93 reminds us why such trust is possible: “The Lord is king… the Lord is mightier than the thunders of many waters”. The world may feel unstable, but God’s reign is firm. When we truly believe this, we can loosen our grip on possessions, status, and control.

Then Jesus speaks to Nicodemus of being “born from above”. This new birth is not something we achieve; it is something we receive. Like the wind, the Spirit moves where it will, reshaping us in ways we cannot predict or manage. And at the heart of it all is the cross: “the Son of Man must be lifted up”, so that in him we may have life.

To be born of the Spirit, then, is to be drawn into this pattern: self-giving love, rooted in trust in God’s sovereignty. It is to live lightly in the world, as Francis did, seeing all things as gift, and all people as brothers and sisters.

Today’s invitation is simple, but not easy: Where am I clinging too tightly? And where might the Spirit be calling me to open my hands just a little more?

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