There was a
Pharisee named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. He came to Jesus at night and
said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for
no one can do these signs that you are doing unless God is with him.” Jesus
answered and said to him, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one is born from
above, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man
once grown old be born again? Surely he cannot re-enter his mother’s womb and
be born again, can he?” Jesus answered, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one
is born of water and Spirit he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. What is born of
flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I
told you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it wills, and you
can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where
it goes; o it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
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Reflection:
Are you already born
again? Every catholic who is faithful to the faith is born again. Being born
again means we practice the sacred teachings and rituals of our faith and we
are faithful to our fidelity to Jesus. We have already been born again by
virtue of our baptism this means that we are new individuals in Christ. As such
we have to do good all the time and we have to follow the teachings of the
church.
If we are a
fair-weather catholic we have not yet been born again. Therefore, we need to be
born again by having a personal relationship with our Lord, Master and Savior
Jesus Christ. This personal relationship with Jesus will facilitate our being
born again in our faith.
In our
gospel, Nicodemus took literally the meaning of being born again. This is the
reason why he told this to Jesus, Surely he cannot re-enter his mother’s womb
and be born again, can he (John 3:4)?” Yet Jesus reminded Nicodemus that the
essence of being born again is to be born of water and spirit which actually is
our baptism.
By virtue of
our baptism all of us had been born again already that was years and years ago.
There’s no need for anyone of us to change our religion to be born again. What
we need is to have a personal encounter with Jesus inside and within our Roman
Catholic Church.
How would we
do this? We go to Holy Mass faithfully and we humbly beg God the Holy Spirit to
enlighten us. So that we would understand what goes on inside the celebration
of the Holy Mass. We visit the Eucharistic Adoration Chapel as often as
possible, we speak to Jesus there and we ask Him renew us according to His will.
And we open and read our bible so that we will have a personal encounter with
the very words and life of Jesus.
Are you already
a born again catholic? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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