MONDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK OF EASTER GOSPEL

MONDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK OF EASTER

REGINA CAELI CATHOLIC CHURCH, KAREN PARISH APRIL 20, 2020

FIRST READING: Acts 4:23-31

PSALM: Psalms 2:1-9

GOSPEL READING: John 3:1-8

SERMON BY: Fr. Stephen Omondi

THEME: BEING BORN IN THE SPIRIT God is good.

Welcome to today’s reflection on the story of the encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus.

NICODEMUS Three things we know about this man Nicodemus are:

1. He was a wealthy man. John19:39 talks of him as having brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes about a hundred-pound weight for the preparation of the body of Jesus for burial.

2. He was a Pharisee which means “the separated ones.”

3. He was a leader in the synagogue who was deeply impressed by the miracles that Jesus was performing.

4. Therefore, Nicodemus was no ordinary man.  

I like the words of Cardinal Sarah when he refers to man in his powers and the coronavirus pandemic, he says,“I believe this epidemic has dispelled the smoke of illusion. The so-called all powerful man appears in his raw reality. There he is naked. His weakness and his vulnerability are glaring.Being confined to our homes will hopefully allow us to turn our attention back to the essentials. To rediscover the importance of our relationship with God, and thus the centrality of prayer in our human existence. And in the awareness of our fragility, to entrust ourselves to God and to his potential mercy.”

– Another interesting thing is Nicodemus goes to see Jesus at night. Why at night? It may be out of caution or simply so that Jesus can give him full attention away from the crowds that followed him by day.

– All in all, the night offered him an undisturbed and private time with Jesus. Nicodemus was a puzzled man, a man with honors and power and yet something was lacking in his life. – Psalms 127 says, without God, all our efforts are useless. He came to Jesus for a talk so that somehow in the darkness of the night he might find light .

– He calls Jesus Rabbi and says: we know that you have come from God as a teacher; for no one could perform the signs that you do unless God were with Him. – Jesus answers him that,” no one can see the kingdom of God unless being born from above.” – Jesus invites him to understand the deeper meaning of the exterior miracles which can happen only by being born of water and the |Holy Spirit.

– This he describes as a change in a man’s inner life that it could be described as a new birth. – To be born again is to undergo such a radical change that it is like a new birth; it is to have something happen to the soul which can only be described as being born all over again; and the whole process is not a human achievement, because it comes from the grace and power of God. – We who have been baptized that is born again in water and the spirit must make a definite and regular commitment to our baptismal promises .

– When Nicodemus brings in the story of entering the mother’s womb what he is challenging is not the desirability of being born again but the possibility.- All of us want a renewal in our lives that can be described as being born again but unfortunately our intention stops at the desire level and refuses to go the possibility level.

– You have achieved so many things in your life and even now I believe the cure and the vaccine for this covid-19 will be found, why is it difficult to have a renewal in your life? – I have good news for you today, that you can achieve this by the grace and power of God. – Phil. 4:13 says, “There is nothing I cannot do in the one who strengthens me.” – Romans 8:10 says, “But when Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin but the spirit is alive because you have been justified.”

– To be born again is to be changed in a such a way that it can be described only as a rebirth and re-creation. – The change comes when we love Jesus and allow him into our hearts. – Then we are forgiven for the past and armed with the spirit for the future; then we can truly accept the will of God in our lives.

– And then we can become citizens of the kingdom; and then we become sons of God; then we enter into eternal life, which is the very life of God .- That is the basic Catechism of the Catholic Church in regard to the sacrament of baptism. – The invitation today is, are you ready for a total renewal of your life that can be said you are born again? Do you trust Jesus with your life that you are ready to go onto that wheelbarrow and allow him to make a miracle out of your own life?

– Do you believe that this coronavirus pandemic is a test of our Faith especially now that Churches are closed but Prayer is not closed.- Actually I was saying that because of our current situation those who relied on communal prayer only are now learning the value of personal and family prayer.

– In the words of today’s responsorial Psalm: Blessed are they who put their trust in the Lord. Ni heri wamtumunio Bwana

Remember:

Mask is better than a ventilator

Home is better than ICU

Prevention is better than Cure.