Born of the Spirit

Today's Reflections

Born of the Spirit 

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Jn 3:7b-15

[Jesus said to Nicodemus,] ⁷“ ‘You must be born from above.’ ⁸The 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.” ⁹Nicodemus answered and said to him, “How can this happen?” ¹⁰Jesus answered and said to him, “You are the teacher of Israel and you do not understand this? ¹¹Amen, amen, I say to you, we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you people do not accept our testimony. ¹²If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? ¹³No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. ¹⁴And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

Reflection:

So must the Son of Man be lifted up. The lifting up of the Son of Man is his (literal) lifting up on the cross but also his lifting up in glory through his crucifixion-resurrection-ascension.

We look up to this Christ thus lifted up in order to be saved. We call this lifting up of Christ the paschal mystery. It is really a mystery that we are able to accept and profess only through the faith imparted to us by the Holy Spirit.

But it is the truth: there is no salvation in any other than Jesus who was crucified and raised up by God to glory (cf Acts 4:12). Christ crucified is indeed to the Gentiles foolishness and to the Jews a stumbling block, but to those who are called he is the power and the wisdom of God (cf 1 Cor 1:23-24).

Do you believe in Christ lifted up,

and are you willing to give yourself

completely to him?