Last evening I went to bar bingo at the Knights of Columbus hall in Bloomington with my mother-in-law and a brother-in-law. Sitting next to us was a couple from St. Richard (much of the crowd was from St. Richard) and they asked me whether this year was the first year I had sung the Exsultet at the Easter Vigil. I said that it wasn't, and that Fr. Mark and I had sung the Exsultet for several years, with each of us taking sections of the song and then singing a duet at the end. It was, I said, really a lot of fun. My mother-in-law was pretty surprised by that, wondering how something that seems so nerve-wracking could really be fun. As I pondered my response the conversation fortunately headed another direction, and I didn't have to explain myself. But I continued to reflect on my reaction that standing up in a pretty-full church singing a song a cappella, at the start of what is arguably the most-important liturgical event of the year, with the pressue on, when you have no singing experience (except in the car with the radio on), is "fun." How can that be? The more I reflected on my reaction, the more I realized that singing the Exsultet is one of those very-rare times when I think I can experience something beyond myself at work, when (dare I say it) the Holy Spirit may be at work. Betsy Sullivan, the music director, always tells me that when I sing the Exsultet I should just let it go, not to hold back, to sing what is a joyful proclamation of Jesus' resurrection in the way that displays that great joy and celebration. And when I do so-- when I stop getting in the way and let it go-- I can feel there is more than me at work. Jesus tells us today that God "does not ration the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Jn 3: 31-36) God gives us the Holy Spirit lavishly, fully, beyond measure. And the Holy Spirit is the power, the energy, the "give it all you got" engine of our faith. We can use that power, and, when we do, it gives us joy-- it is "fun." Maybe that's what Eric Liddell, the Christian runner who is one of the heroes of the movie, "Chariots of Fire," meant when he said: "God made me fast. And when I run, I feel his pleasure." We all have the power of the Holy Spirit. Use it, and feel God's pleasure.