Meditation for January 14, Regeneration

One evening - was it through fear, or possibly the desire of pro­longing the conversation in the fresh air - a doctor of the law, Nicodemus, came to question Our Lord on His mission and His doctrine. Our Lord opened to him the treasure of His teaching on sanctifying grace and participation in the divine life. It is a conversation similar to that of the Savior with the Samaritan woman.

Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. (John iii, 5.) This is a very clear allusion to Baptism, in which the pouring of water to­gether with the divine power sanctifies souls and makes them tem­ples of the Holy Ghost.

Let us learn from this passage of the Gospel, the true value of Baptism. Let us learn in a general way the hidden power of the sacramental rites. We have both body and soul. Except for the Sacrament of Penance where the matter of the sacrament consists in the acts of the penitent, especially in the accusation of faults, and for the Sacrament of Matrimony, Our Lord uses a material object, water, oil or chrism or something which affects the body; He unites to this visible substance an invisible power.

I shall thank Our Lord for these rites, these bearers of grace, the Sacraments. What divine gifts! I shall always receive them with maximum faith, gratitude and love, especially those in which I am likely to become a prey to routine as in my confessions.
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Adapted from Meditations for Religious
by Father Raoul Plus, S.J. (© 1939, Frederick Pustet Co.)