He Came to Jesus In the Night

Jesus said to Nicodemus:
"'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."
Nicodemus answered and said to him,
'How can this happen?"
Jesus answered and said to him,
"You are the teacher of Israel and you do not understand this?
Amen, 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.  If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe ,how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?     No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."

Nicodemus is the one who came to visit Jesus at night.  He wasn't sure about this Jesus fellow and wanted to speak to Him in private.  Nicodemus was a Jewish leader that had some influence that he could bring to bear when needed but he did not want to take a chance on offending Caiphas by making a show of speaking to Jesus, thus the visit by night. The discussion he has with Jesus is an important one for us. 

Jesus says that we must be born from above, to be born again. How can we do this is the question Nicodemus asks the Lord. In the case of the Roman Catholic, we are reborn when we die and rise with Christ in the waters of baptism.  Our old self is killed off and we become a new creation.  The graces of God are poured into our soul and the original sin that our earliest ancestors committed is wiped away. 

Is that all there is to it? For us to secure our salvation we need to undergo this death and rising through water. But we also, from this point on,. form our lives to conform to the desires of our heavenly Father.  We start this by learning and following the ten commandments and the precepts of the Church.  While following rules and regulations is admirable and will keep you on the right side of the law, as Catholics we have to go above and beyond the rules and regulations and embrace the power of our Baptism and live a life of love and service.  To do this we must allow the Holy Spirit to be a forming influence in our life and we must be open to and make the most of the opportunities for charity that come our way.  If we do this, we will make our world a better place in which to live and please our gracious Father who will reward us.  

Remember the Poor Souls in Purgatory...