Understanding heavenly truths

Tuesday, April 30, 2019
2nd Week of Easter
1st Reading:
Acts 4:32-37
Gospel: John 3:7-15
Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Don’t be surprised when I say: ‘You must be born again from above.’
“The wind blows where it pleases and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. It is like that with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Nicodemus asked again, “How can this be?” And Jesus answered, “You are a teacher in Israel, and you don’t know these things!
“Truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and we witness to the things we have seen, but you don’t accept our testimony. If you don’t believe when I speak of earthly things, what then, when I speak to you of heavenly things? No one has ever gone up to heaven except the one who came from heaven, the Son of Man. (…)
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in  the Assimilated Life Experience)
As one “coming from above” Jesus could testify about heavenly realities like no other. But heaven was so remote from the experience of the Jews. Any revelation about heaven and God, even if coming from a witness as credible as one coming from above, was Greek to them. They needed rebirth in the Spirit in order to understand.
Heavenly realities are getting even harder to absorb today because of shifting moral standards. This shift has resulted to lots of compromises. The sacredness of life has moral standards that are supposed to be universal and immutable. But these are bowing to accommodate pragmatists who advocate contraceptive use. Marriage too is compromised as society makes people believe homosexual marriage has practical advantages that outweigh moral considerations. How homosexual union found its way to modern man’s category of negotiable morality is as puzzling as how present and future mothers can support the passage of abortion laws, or how society can even think about euthanasia when elders always deserve the gratitude of the younger generations. Only rebirth in the spirit can restore our sight to the non-negotiability of morality even at the behest of practicality.

The motive force behind the shift of values is convenience. The roots of convenience are digging deeper into our culture. Fast pace technological advancement fertilizes these roots as the shadow of convenience continues to cast doubt on the relevance of the cross to the modern world. This kills spirituality. Take the cross away from Christianity and you rob Christ of his rightful place among Christians. “Apart from me you can do nothing”. In plain language, apart from Jesus we understand nothing about values, nothing about the truth, and nothing about morality. We need rebirth. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M.