Today is April 28, Monday of the Second Week of Easter
We read at today’s Mass, “Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can a man once grown old be born again? Surely he cannot reenter his mother’s womb and be born again, can he?’ Jesus answered, ‘Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one is born of water and Spirit he cannot enter the Kingdom of God'” (Jn 3:4).
That’s the question Nicodemus poses to Jesus in today’s Gospel. It’s a reasonable question. On a human level, it’s even a bit humorous. But the Lord’s answer leads us deeper into the heart of the Easter season: “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one is born of water and Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.”
This nighttime conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus — so early in John’s Gospel — is rich with meaning. Nicodemus is curious but cautious. A Pharisee and leader of the Jews, he comes in secret, uncertain about who Jesus really is. And yet, he desires something more. He wants to understand what it means to be reborn.
Keeping the Easter feast alive
How fitting it is that we return to this scene in Eastertide, the season of rebirth. These 50 days are not just an extension of Easter Sunday — they are the Church’s great celebration of new life. At the Easter Vigil, thousands of catechumens across the world were reborn in Christ, receiving the sacraments of baptism, confirmation and the Eucharist. They entered into the very mystery Nicodemus could only begin to grasp: the mystery of being born again.
Why 50 days of Easter? In Scripture, the number seven signifies perfection. Seven weeks (seven times seven) is 49, and Pentecost, the 50th day, is the crowning moment. It’s a biblical symbol of completeness. The Church, filled with the Spirit, is born anew. And we, who once bore only the image of our earthly parentage, are being transformed into the image of our heavenly Maker.
So today, let’s keep the Easter feast alive. Let’s rejoice in the newly baptized. Let’s pray for the neophytes — the newest members of Christ’s Body — and thank God for the work he is doing in all of us who have been reborn in grace.
Let us pray,
Grant, we pray, almighty God, that we, who have been renewed by paschal remedies, transcending the likeness of our earthly parentage, may be transformed in the image of our heavenly maker. 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. Amen.
