Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint 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 reenter 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;
so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.
Born from above
1) Pharisee. In Nicodemus we see the figure of someone who lives their religion as mere compliance of rules; many times, the means are turned into an end. I remember the experience of a person who told me in their confession, in tears, “I couldn’t pray the Rosary today.” On the one hand, I was surprised, but on the other, I understood that it was not a question of love, but rather of only an observance of an obligation. It’s dangerous when we take religion to the extreme of compliance, and compliance for the sake of completing the task. That way, even devotions become a shell, in which there is an internal emptiness. And that’s why there comes a moment when “emptiness” is all that remains. This situation of going from one extreme to another can happen to you: from following many self-made rules of devotions to nothing at all. There are times when I like to ask, “Do you talk to Jesus?”; and there are times when the answer is a list of rules: “I do this, the other, I pray such a thing, I pray such and such a novena”, and so on. But I ask again, “Do you talk to Jesus? Does all that lead you to really come together with him?”
2) Be born again. We are living a beautiful time; that of Easter. It is a time to be born again and begin a new path. It’s time to make a change in your life and see what things you have to put aside, and what things you should work harder on. Life is not static, it’s dynamic, because it changes according to the different circumstances we live. We must pay attention to see whether or not we are submerged in a life structure which helped us at the beginning, but now, today, it is suffocating us.
3) The Spirit. God’s proposition is that you should live an intimate experience with him. Look for God within you; go deeper into yourself and discover what God wants to propose to you today. Look at your life and see who you are and what you want for yourself. With God your life changes; the issue is if you want to change too.
Remember that something good is on the way!
God bless you and be with you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
