Baptism is the sacrament of rebirth.

We have completed the Easter octave of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus. We will live the Easter season until the Feast of the Sending of the Holy Spirit, which is on the fiftieth day after the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus. We will talk about the current theme of the Easter season, and that is the Sacrament of Baptism.

Jesus, in meeting Nicodemus, said: “Truly, truly, I say this: Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (Jn 3:5).

This third chapter of the Gospel of St. John the Apostle may also be called the “baptismal catechesis,” the instruction on the sacrament of baptism. We are served by Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish high council, a man of learning, a man of respectability, who does not content himself with what the high board is brought by its informers about the teachings of Christ, the wandering teacher, but visits Jesus himself and converses with him. He is so impressed by the conversation that he comes again to Jesus under cover of darkness. And so we can say that here begins the faith that Christ’s miracles have inspired in him. Nicodemus was a man longing for the truth. Therefore, Jesus sees this and seeks to initiate Nicodemus into the mystery of salvation. And this is what Nicodemus was after, for he would not have called Jesus a teacher otherwise. In the conversation they have with each other, we learn, thanks to Nicodemus, that entrance into the kingdom of God is only possible through the rebirth of water and the Holy Spirit, that is, thanks to the sacrament of baptism. There is a new birth, a new life – a supernatural life. Nicodemus at first mistakenly thinks that something absurd is involved here – to be born again bodily. However, this is not a physical rebirth but a spiritual rebirth thanks to water, which symbolizes life. This visible sign, the baptism of regeneration, means that the Holy Spirit stirs up a new life, a new life-principle, namely, sanctifying grace, in the baptized person, and it is by this that the carnal person becomes spiritual, that is, filled with the Holy Spirit.

We believe Christians speak of a double existence; we have received a spiritual reality from our parents. This act is a matter of faith. It is a mystery to us.
However, we see various mysteries in the surrounding nature, for example, the wind blowing wherever it wants without our consent. So also, the Holy Spirit opens the way for us into a new life without our permission. To be born of the Holy Spirit is to receive the inspiration of God and to believe in God. Only when one decides in faith to receive the Holy Spirit is born again of the Holy Spirit without merit. This means that we can only receive baptism once in our lives. Still, the grace that was initiated in baptism can be multiplied and regained in the Sacrament of Reconciliation when we set our consciences in order.

We must constantly strive to renew the baptismal grace we have received, increase it, and grow spiritually.
We know that Nicodemus did not understand this on his first encounter with Christ. He went away that night, and yet it was a significant night not only for him but for us, for just as the moment had come for Nicodemus that after his death, he would not only stand up for Christ in the high place, but he would ask Pilate himself for the handing over of the dead body of the Lord Jesus.

In our own lives, too, we have had a moment when we have not only been willing to give up many things, events, and persons for our spiritual growth, but in doing so, we have also discovered that what is not connected to Christ has no value or meaning for us.

Let us often remind ourselves of the value of our baptism. Let us remember with gratitude our parents, our godparents, and the priest who baptized us, for then he gave us a great treasure that opens the gates of heaven. Let us also pray for ourselves that we may never lose the grace of baptism.

In this Easter season, may we grow in our awareness that we have been reborn to new life through baptism?