Born Again

The Mystery of the Spirit Revealed To a Master in Israel
The Conversation with Nicodemus
Now there was among the Pharisees a man named Nicodemus, who was one of the rulers of the Jews. He visited Jesus at night and said to him,"Rabbi, we are certain that you have come from God as a teacher, because no man would be able to do these signs which you do if God was not with him."

To Be born again from water and The Spirit
Jesus said to him,"Truly, I say to you, unless a man is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

Nicodemus said,"How can a grown man be born? Can he go back into his mother's womb and be born again?"

Jesus replied," I tell you most solemnly, unless a man is born through water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God: what is born of the flesh is flesh; what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be surprised when I say: You must be born from above. The wind blows wherever it pleases; you hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. That is how it is with all who are born of the Spirit."

"How can that be possible?" asked Nicodemus. "You, a teacher in Israel, and you do not know these things!" replied Jesus.

Jesus, only Son with a child's heart
"I tell you most solemnly, we speak only about what we know and witness only to what we have seen and yet you people reject our evidence. If you do not believe me when I speak about things in this world, how are you going to believe me when I speak to you about heavenly things? No one has gone up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven; and the Son of Man who is in heaven; and the Son of Man must be lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life.

For God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that through him the world might be saved. No one who believes in him will be condemned; but whoever refuses to believe is condemned already, because he has refused to believe in the name of God's only Son. On these grounds is sentence pronounced: that though the light has come into the world, men have shown they prefer darkness to the light because their deeds were evil. And indeed, everybody who does wrong hates the light and avoids it, for fear his actions should be exposed; but the man who lives by the truth comes out into the light, so that it may be plainly seen that what he does is done in God."

My Testimonial

This was my room in Boon Lay. Over here, I had heard 'voices', I had seen 'shadows' in my mother's room, and I had 'conversed' with Jesus. I painted the swans during the moonlight, hang on the wall, just above the cross (luminous cross). On the left is a small frame written "Jesus The Friend", and beside it, my baby photo. On the right side, they were all my collections and gifts. On the bottom of Mary was a Happy Teachers' Day gift from my niece.

Over the years, I was 'discouraged' by love. Born in a family who do not 'act like Christian', and with lots of problems in the family, and heard from families about 'catholics worshiping idols', I began to have second thoughts about Catholicism. Jehovah witness came to me as well. Aunty Mary, who was once a Catholic, removed her name from the church and baptised again as 'Jehovah witness'. I did not 'listen' to her.

I am very glad that today, I have found my truth, and found my true religion and the one true God again. I was reborn, really reborn, of water and spirit. Thank You Jesus. Thank You God.

Promises To Abraham

The Spirit of the Promise
Disfigured by sin and death, man remains "in the image of God" in the image of the Son, but is deprived 'of the glory of God', of his 'likeness'. The promise made to Abraham inaugurates the economy of salvation, at the culmination of which the Son himself will assume that 'image' and restore it in the Father's 'likeness' by giving it again its Glory, the Spirit who is 'the giver of life'.

Against all human hope, God promises descendants to Abraham, as the fruit of faith and of the power of the Holy Spirit. In Abraham's progeny all the nations of the earth will be blessed. This progeny will be Christ himself, in whom the outpouring of the Holy Spirit will 'gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad'. God commits himself by his own solemn oath to giving his beloved Son and 'the promised Holy Spirit... who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it.

The remote preparation for this gathering to gather together of the People of God begins when he calls Abraham and promises that he will become the father of a great people. Its immediate preparation begins with Israel’s election as the People of God. By this election, Israel is to be the sign of the future gathering of all nations. But the prophets accuse Israel of breaking the covenant and behaving like a prostitute. They announce a new and eternal covenant. “Christ instituted this New Covenant”.

Baptism in The Economy of Salvation
Baptism is prefigured in the crossing of the Jordan River by which the People of God received the gift of the land promised to Abraham's descendants, an image of eternal life. The promise of this blessed inheritance is fulfilled in the New Covenant.

Our Vocation To Beatitude
The Beatitudes are at the heart of Jesus' preaching. They take up the promises made to the chosen people since Abraham. The Beatitudes fulfill the promises by ordering them no longer merely to the possession of a territory, but to the Kingdom of heaven.

In the promise to Abraham and the oath that accompanied it, God commits himself but without disclosing his name. He begins to reveal it to Moses and makes it known clearly before the eyes of the whole people when he saves them from the Egyptians:"he has triumphed gloriously". From the covenant of Sinai onwards, this people is 'his own' and it is to be a 'holy (or consecrated: the same word is used for both in Hebrew) nation", because the name of God dwells in it.

Fulfillment of The Promises
The Good News: God Has sent his Son
"But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons." This is "the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God", God has visited his people. He has fulfilled the promise he made to Abraham and his descendants. He acted far beyond all expectation -- he has sent his own "Beloved Son".

The Beatitudes teach us the final end to which God calls us: the Kingdom, the vision of God, participation in the divine nature, eternal life, filiation, rest in God.

The Prayer of Virgin Mary
That is why the Canticle of Mary, the Magnificat(Latin) or Megalynei(Byzantine) is the song both of the Mother of God and of the Church; the song of the Daughter of Zion and of the new People of God; the song of thanksgiving for the fullness of graces poured out in the economy of salvation and the song of the 'poor' whose hope is met by the fulfillment of the promises made to our ancestors, "to Abraham and to his posterity forever."

Source: Catechism of The Catholic Church