Our New Birth in Chist Jesus

 Reflection on Today’s Readings, 2nd Week of Easter, Tuesday 26th April, 2022
Texts: Acts 4: 32-37; Psalm 93:1abc.ie-2.5; John 3 :7b-15
Our new birth is different from our physical birth. For our physical birth there is physical process and parents to point to but for our new birth there is no physical process and parents to point to. The only indication of a spiritual birth is the way of life. Our ways of life are the signs of our new birth. We take such ways of life after Jesus Christ. You may be a hot tempered person, when you are born of the Spirit you become cool tempered. It is the birth according to the Spirit that makes a sinner become a saint. We are not yet given birth to according to the Spirit if our ways of life remain the same. There is something wrong with me if my life remain the same after baptism.  
The new birth comes with a sense of commitment to God in every aspect of life. There should be strong commitment to communion with others in Christ, strong commitment to private prayer, strong commitment to service, strong commitment to charity, strong commitment to the practice of the faith, strong commitment to gospel values, strong commitment to forgiveness, etc. This commitment manifests both in our private and public life. I do not love God in public and deny Him in private. I do not love my neighbours in public and deny them in private. I do not show I love God in the Church and deny Him in secular affair. I am not modest in the Church but immodest when it comes to secular affair. Our commitment to God should manifest in all we do or say. When we are born of the Spirit we are always true to ourselves both in public and private or both in secular affair and religious affair.  
 Our sense of commitment is the evidence that we are born of the Spirit. Hence, in today’s gospel reading, Jesus says, “You must be born anew. The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with every one who is born of the Spirit.” What the people notice is the change in our ways of life, not any physical birth like when we were born of our parents. The similarity between physical birth and spiritual birth is the experience of new life, new ways of living. Just as we begin new life when we are born of our parents, so also we begin new life when we are born of the Spirit.  
We see in today’s first reading the sign of new birth in the early Christian community. Every member was committed to the common good; personal interest was sacrificed for the good of the whole community.  It is said of them thus: “The company of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had everything in common.” They gave what they had for the good of the whole community. This is clear in example of Barnabas: “Thus Joseph who was surnamed by the apostles Barnabas (which means, Son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field which belonged to him, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.” It is the sign of being born of the Spirit. Let us learn to give up our self-interests for the good of the whole community.
 
Enable us, we pray, almighty God, to proclaim the power of the risen Lord, that we who have received the pledge of his gift, may come to possess all he gives when it is fully revealed.  Amen. (Collect)

Fr. Andrew Olowomuke