Daily Gospel Reflection
Join the Notre Dame family of faith. Receive God’s Word and a unique reflection in your inbox each day.
April 21, 2020
Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?
“Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”
Each Holy Week, we reencounter Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. This year, I heard Nicodemus give a voice to my own question: “How can these things be?”
Great question, Nicodemus! Jesus returns after the resurrection and we all must ask, “How can this be?” How could Christ have died, rose, and returned to be with us?
I don’t think this Gospel is prompting us for an answer. I think Christ is asking us to recognize the question. If we believe that he died and rose, then that changes everything—not just one thing, or some things, or many things. Everything will change. Asking “How can this be?” is a way to acknowledge the magnitude of this new reality.
We think we are born here below and will one day rise with Christ. We think we are made only from the stuff of the earth and intended for an earthly grave. Christ’s resurrection flips the world on its head and shows us how much has changed: “We must be born from above.”
We all know that what goes up must come down, but Christ descended to life on earth—even to hell itself—and will ascend to be with God. His death and resurrection inspires the possibility that perhaps what comes down, must go up. He calls us to be born from above so that we might share eternal life.
Nicodemus is questioned by Jesus for not understanding. In this confrontation, Jesus challenges the common habit of assuming we understand something because we observe its presence. But observation is not understanding, and even when we see and believe, we still doubt. During the Easter Triduum we celebrate and observe the life, death, and resurrection, and now we are challenged to more deeply ponder: “How can it be?”
Lord Jesus, help our unbelief, that we might be born from above and have eternal life.
Prayer
Loving God, your Son, Jesus, was lifted up on the wood of the cross to bring spiritual healing and new life to those suffering from sin and death. Help us to always be mindful of those who suffer physically and spiritually. Amen.
Saint of the Day
In the line of thinkers in the medieval Church, St. Anselm stands as a giant, but he is a saint because his love for others was even greater than his intellect.
He was born in 1033 in what is now northern Italy. As an adolescent, he wanted to enter the monastery, but was too young, so he wandered in his faith for a time. Later, as a well-educated young man, he heard about a famous abbot who was teaching at a monastery in Normandy, and he joined the community there at the age of 27.
Anselm quickly rose into leadership positions in the community at the monastery, and his brother monks grumbled about his promotions because of his youth. But Anselm was patient and gentle, which won over all of them—even an obstinate young monk who was set on living outside of the monastic discipline. Anselm shepherded the young monk with tenderness, and brought him around to greater faithfulness, even nursing him when he fell ill and died.
Anselm was a monumental thinker—he was known as the greatest theologian of his age. Not since Augustine had the Church such a mind at her disposal. He is known as the father of Scholasticism, a critical mode of thought from the medieval age that gave rise to the university system. Anselm wrote about the existence and nature of God, truth, free will, the origins of evil, reason, and Jesus’ Incarnation.
In 1078, Anselm was elected abbot of the monastery, and soon after was named archbishop of Canterbury. In that position he ran into continuous conflicts with several successive kings of England over rights and revenues. They wanted to claim the stream of resources that came from monasteries, and Anselm took his opposition to the pope on several occasions. Anselm unflinchingly fought to better the clergy and hold to Church disciplines.
Anselm was known for his charity towards all, and especially towards the poor. People who met him remarked on his sincerity and compassion. He was the first to take a stand against the slave trade, passing a resolution against the selling of people like cattle.
Anslem died of old age in 1109, and was declared a doctor of the Church, a title given to 37 saints who are known for elucidating the faith by their words or example. His relics rest in the reliquary chapel on campus.
St. Anselm, you who deepened our understanding of God and enacted that knowledge in love, pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Anselm is in the public domain. Last accessed February 21, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
