Reflection for April 13, Monday of the Second Week of Easter; John 3:1-8

Gospel: John 3:1-8

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 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 through 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 where Jesus speaks from.

If you are a fair weather catholic you have not yet been born again. Therefore you 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 the period of 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 within our Roman Catholic faith.

How would we do this? We go to Holy Mass faithfully and we humbly beg Jesus to give us the grace of the Holy Spirit. So that we would understand with faith 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 change us. 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 a born again catholic? – Marino J. Dasmarinas