{"id":27390,"date":"2021-04-14T07:00:04","date_gmt":"2021-04-14T06:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/er\/StNinians\/?p=27390"},"modified":"2021-04-13T12:42:13","modified_gmt":"2021-04-13T11:42:13","slug":"wednesday-reflection-37","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/er\/StNinians\/wednesday-reflection-37\/","title":{"rendered":"WEDNESDAY REFLECTION"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mid-week Reflection<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>14th<\/sup> April 2021<\/p>\n

I suspect that most priests, most of the time, preach about the Gospel, rather than the reading.\u00a0 During Eastertide, however, the opposite is probably the case.\u00a0 We speak, not so much about the Gospel, but turn our attention to the Acts of the Apostles which is so captivating and exciting as it tells the story of the burgeoning early church. It\u2019s so much easier to speak bout the Acts especially when the alternative is that deeply theological document, The Gospel of John.<\/p>\n

So guess what\u2026.I am turning my attention to John!\u00a0 If you were at Holy Mass yesterday, you would have heard his account of the post-Resurrection dialogue between Jesus and Nicodemus.\u00a0 The work of a teacher is to teach! That is, to share knowledge and a love of knowledge with pupils so that they can grasp the truth that is being offered to them.\u00a0 The best teacher convinces pupils by living<\/em><\/strong> what he or she teaches.\u00a0 That\u2019s what Jesus did.\u00a0 He came from the secrets of Heaven to the streets of the Earth.\u00a0 That\u2019s the mystery!\u00a0 However, it can happen that a particular boy or girl does not want to understand, does not want to be taught, refuses to accept and understand.<\/p>\n

Nicodemus in questioning Jesus about rebirth\u2026about being re-born again\u2026should have accepted and understood the message.\u00a0 After all, he was steeped in the scriptures which often refer to taking on a new heart and a new spirit.\u00a0 Some people do not listen.\u00a0 Some listen but do not learn.\u00a0 Some are unwilling to hear because it makes demands on them.\u00a0 The Navarre Bible speaks of physical birth as \u201cthe paternity which engenders to death and baptism as the paternity which engenders to life.\u201d But in spite of what we know to be true we can be unwilling to change our ways or to be changed.<\/p>\n

That was Nicodemus.\u00a0 At this stage he is not open to a new birth\u2026to a re-creation.\u00a0 He does not\u00a0 want to change, or, perhaps, is afraid to do so.\u00a0 An alcoholic once said to me, \u201cYou have a car and I don\u2019t. That\u2019s not fair.\u201d\u00a0 I said to him, \u201cBut don\u2019t you realise that you have drunk two BMW\u2019s?\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019m not claiming that that changed him but he did eventually give up the drinking and got something even better than a BMW.\u00a0 He got his faith back and died in the arms of the Lord.\u00a0 A whole new world opened for him as it had for Nicodemus.\u00a0 What a change that was!<\/p>\n

Monsignor Monaghan<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mid-week Reflection \u00a014th April 2021 I suspect that most priests, most of the time, preach about the Gospel, rather than the reading.\u00a0 During Eastertide, however, the opposite is probably the case.\u00a0 We<\/p>\n

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