Nicodemus said, “How can there be rebirth for a grown man? Who could go back to his mother’s womb and be born again?”
Jesus replied, “Truly, I say to you: No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.
What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Because of this, don’t be surprised when I say,
‘You must be born again from above.’ The wind blows where it pleases and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going.
It is like that with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
REFLECTION:
Jesus tells Nicodemus in the Gospel that only one who has been “born again from above” can gain entry into the kingdom of heaven,
while in the first reading, the apostles Peter and John pray for even greater boldness as they seek to proclaim Christ amidst the growing hostility of those who refuse to believe –
both instances point to the fact that whatever a disciple accomplishes, whether individually or as a community,
are first and foremost the result of divine initiative and not simply human activity. It is the Spirit that gives life,
just as it is the spirit that moves and inspires.
It is always God who takes the initiative. It is he who takes the first step. Pope Benedict, in one of his works,
says (quoting from St. Augustine’s “Confessions”) that “our hearts are restless” for God because God’s heart was “restless for us first.”
We merely respond to this divine invitation. In the end, everything we are able to accomplish, whether personally or as a church,
are the results of God’s grace; we merely cooperate.
© Copyright Bible Diary 2020