Jesus speaks to us about the triple relationship between himself, God the Father, and us believers. It is a relationship of being sent and being attracted - a relationship of passivity.

The Father sends the Son, and the Son's response is total obedience to the Father. We come to know the Father by opening ourselves to the attraction that is the Son. Freedom and passivity unite in the working of God's Spirit.

The story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch beautifully illustrates how God's Spirit works through freedom and passivity, and how believers cooperate.

The Spirit moves Philip to get ready to go to, of all places, the desert, to spread the Good News to one single gentile! Like the Risen Lord on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:45), Philip explains to the Ethiopian that the one whom he is reading about in Isaiah's prophecy (52:13-53-12) is Jesus, Son of God, who suffered, died and rose again. The eunuch is converted and he asks to be baptized.

The Spirit leads us out of the desert to living water, from ignorance to enlightenment, from sterility to life in abundance. God takes the initiative. We should let God take the lead in our prayer too.