“Truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit,” [i] spoke Jesus to Nicodemus. St. John the Evangelist recounts the events of that conversation for us to learn of the power of baptism into Jesus, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit we may be sons and daughters of God, co-heirs with Jesus Himself. In the creed, we profess that the Holy Spirit is the Lord, the Giver of Life. All life comes from God. Although conception happens in a union between man and woman, it is God who gives life. In baptism, our birth into divine life, we are conceived and born again of the Spirit.
Didymus of Alexandria writes powerfully of being born again in God in the new life of grace:
The Spirit restores our original beauty and fills us with his grace
Finding us in a state of deformity, the Spirit restores our original beauty and fills us with his grace, leaving no room for anything unworthy of our love. The Spirit frees us from sin and death, and changes us from the earthly men we were, men of dust and ashes, into spiritual men, sharers in the divine glory, sons and heirs of God the Father who bear a likeness to the Son and are his co-heirs and brothers, destined to reign with him and to share his glory. In place of earth the Spirit reopens heaven to us and gladly admits us into paradise, giving us even now greater honour than the angels, and by the holy waters of baptism extinguishing the unquenchable fires of hell.
Gifts of the Holy Spirit | Convent of the Sacred Heart, Alma
We are Conceived Twice
We men are conceived twice: to the human body we owe our first conception, to the divine Spirit, our second. John says: To all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God. These were born not by human generation, not by the desire of the flesh, not by the will of man, but of God. All who believed in Christ, he says, received power to become children of God, that is, of the Holy Spirit, and to gain kinship with God. To show that their parent was God the Holy Spirit, he adds these words of Christ: I give you this solemn warning, that without being born of water and the Spirit, no one can enter the kingdom of God.
the Spirit of God baptises into himself both our souls and bodies
Visibly, through the ministry of priests, the font gives symbolic birth to our visible bodies. Invisibly, through the ministry of angels, the Spirit of God, whom even the mind’s eye cannot see, baptises into himself both our souls and bodies, giving them a new birth.[ii]
As we prepare for the Solemnity of Pentecost, let us pray in the words of the Collect:
Grant, we pray, almighty God,
that the splendor of your glory
may shine forth upon us
and that, by the bright rays of the Holy Spirit,
the light of your light may confirm the hearts
of those born again by your grace.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.[iii]
Works Cited:
[i] “John 3:5.” John 3 NRSVCE – – Bible Gateway. Accessed May 30, 2022. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2B3&version=NRSVCE.
[ii] Didymus , of Alexandria. “From the Treatise On the Trinity: The Holy Spirit Renews Us in Baptism.” Easter Week 6, Monday – Office of Readings – Lesson 2. Accessed May 30, 2022. http://www.liturgies.net/Liturgies/Catholic/loh/easter/week6mondayor.htm.
Lib. 2, 12: PG 39, 667-674
[iii] Pentecost morning prayer “Prayer”. Accessed June 1, 2022. http://www.liturgies.net/Liturgies/Catholic/loh/pentecostmp.htm.
