Acts 2:36-41 Ps 33:4-5, 18-19, 20 and 22 Jn 20:11-18

Weekly Guide for Daily Prayer The Daily Reflections Celebrating Easter

It amazes me the kind of fervor that the early church had.  Here in the reading is the birthday of the Church; mere hours before this the Apostles were almost terrified and without strength to leave their house, but now here they are firmly preaching and baptizing the masses. 
               
This energy is something that I long for.  There are times when I try to force myself to get excited for my faith, but it rarely works out for me.  As I have grown in college I have come to recognize that this energy from the Spirit is a gift, not something I can attain on my own.
               
The Spirit gave just that gift on Pentecost.  He gave the Apostles the energy and the courage to go forth spreading the Gospel to those who needed it most.  This gift must have been quite powerful since they never gave up their quest and most sacrificed their lives in Christ’s name.
               
The exciting part is that this gift of the Spirit was not a onetime deal.  As I mentioned before,  I have struggled to figure out how to have this relationship with the Spirit and it comes down to being open to it.  When I am open to the gift, desperately hoping to attain it, I find that my joy and excitement for my faith is greatly increased.  These are the times I find that I am generally more peaceful and driven to daily prayer.
               
Since the Spirit is our intermediary to God, we cannot hope to have a productive spiritual or prayer life without relationship with him.  I hope that this Easter season that the Lord can show us what it means to be truly open to his gifts and the guidance of the Spirit.