Daily Gospel Reflection for April 12, 2021

Join us as we reflect, ponder, and pray together inspired by today's Gospel.

Today's Gospel: John 3:1-8

“How can a person once grown old be born again? Surely he cannot renter his mother’s womb and be born again, can he?” (John 3:4). Nicodemus was a devout Jew who already recognized that Jesus had been sent by God. He didn’t yet realize that Jesus was God, and he certainly didn’t understand what Jesus was talking about. He probably thought he’d heard Jesus wrong, or that Jesus, despite being sent from God, might have been a bit confused. I probably would have thought he was crazy. How can a person be born again? And yet Nicodemus was not deterred. Rather than walking away, he asked Jesus to explain Himself.

“No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit” (John 3:5). Jesus’ answer probably didn’t make sense to Nicodemus, but he kept trying to understand what Jesus meant. We know what Jesus meant, two thousand years later. We have been born of water and Spirit. We have been baptized and confirmed, freed from original sin and filled with the Spirit of God. We have all been born twice. We were given physical life at the moment of our conception, and we were given spiritual life at our Baptism. We were born spiritually dead, but we will die spiritually alive, destined to spend eternity with God in heaven.

We all need to be a bit more like Nicodemus. Even when he didn’t understand, he didn’t leave. He knew that he had found the Truth, so he stayed with Christ. In our lives, we won’t always know what God has planned for us. We might not always understand God’s will for our lives, but we are all meant to remain at His side. We are meant to trust God, believing that He will take care of us. We might have a lot of questions for God, but we can trust that He will always have the answers we need.

Ponder:

In what ways have you recently trusted God even when you didn’t fully understand His plans for you?

Pray:

Dear Lord, please help me to trust You even when I don’t fully understand Your plans for me. Help me to believe that You always have what is best for me in mind, and that You desire nothing but my happiness and love. Amen.