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Now
there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. He came to
Jesus at night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher
who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you are doing
unless God is with him." Jesus answered and said to him, "Amen, amen, I
say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from
above." Nicodemus said to him, "How can a person 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, no one can enter
the
kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit."
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Arthur
Spiderwick was a "spirit-world investigator" in the movie, "The
Spiderwick Chronicles," and was able to discover that there was more to
this world than the normal human being would think. After he
disappears,
his direct relatives inherit his home, and the children Jared, Simon
and Mallory discover what Arthur thought he had kept secret. They
discover the spirit world that their grandfather saw, a world of good
and bad creatures.
Thanks to Jared's curiosity and the fact that he was an
innocent trouble-maker, he
and his twin brother and sister enter another world, but one that
interacts with their own. It is another world that only a "seeing
stone," a special eyeglass, will show. They discover that there is more
to this
world
than meets the eye, and it is a discovery that will shape the rest of
their lives.
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One
of the thoughts that comes from the movie "The Spiderwick Chronicles"
is that there is another world around us that we are not aware of, a
world that is made up of goblins, hobogoblins, ogres, trolls
and griffins. It is fantasy, of course, but the thought is one that a
believer of Jesus will find to be helpful. The spiritual world that
Jesus
spoke of to Nicodemus was a world in which we accept something like a
"seeing stone," namely
our faith. When we do, we too understand that the kingdom of God is all
around us, and the way to
enter it is by being born again, what the Christian world calls Baptism.
The Christian belief is that Baptism gives us entry into a world that will be happy and will never end. In our world of earthly existence, we are born, we grow, we go to school, we choose to work for a living, we marry, we have children, we grow old, we die. Everyone lives their lives in their own way, according to their circumstances, according to the choices that they make or are made for them. When we choose Baptism and realize what we have chosen, then that "seeing stone" leads us to understand that we "are born from above," as Jesus told Nicodemus. Once we understand that we "are born from above," we will live the same life that we were living before with an entirely different attitude. We will live our lives with faith. We will live our lives accepting the principles of Jesus as guide. It will literally make all the difference in the world, leading us through this life to the eternal life with God. |
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THOUGHT
How does a person who
is "born from above" behave in the today's world?
PRAYER Good
and gracious
God, you call us through your Son Jesus to be people who act with faith
even as we live in today's world. Help us to live our lives in such a
way that it is evident that we believe in you. Be with
us,
we pray.
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©2007
Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America |
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