A certain Pharisee named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin, came to Jesus at night.
These words, in which this first sentence from today's scripture, have great meaning for us.
He came to Jesus at night, for we see very clearly a contrary occurrence happening here than the fall of our first parents.
For when they offended God out of fear, they hid themselves.
And that was the tendency of fallen mankind, to constantly hide himself from God, whom he had offended by sin.
But in today's gospel, we learn something very special, that God in the flesh draws men to himself.
For in the story of Nicodemus coming and speaking with our Lord,
we are also told in other parts of scripture that Jesus spoke with the just and the unjust,
that he spoke with saint and sinner and like, and that each was drawn to him,
and each felt confident to engage the Lord of all goodness in conversation.
And so, we see the significance of being born again of water in the Holy Spirit.
For it is the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, who teaches us that in Jesus we truly have hope.
In Jesus we have found someone.
Who defends us and delivers us from our sins.
And so, we have the confidence to go forward as true children of God.
We notice that our Lord in his conversations with all human beings was only concerned with one thing,
to draw them out of their sinful practices into the light of his kingdom,
or to instruct them in the way to stay faithful to his kingdom.
And so, in his conversations with others, we do not see our Lord manipulating others
by playing on their vices and their faults and failings.
As is often done in today's society, both in order to get from another human being what one desires,
or simply to entertain oneself by playing on the faults and failings of others.
But in the case of our Lord, we see none of that, because he became poor and became a man like us,
in order that he may communicate to us the riches he has in store for us.
That is, all the graces imparted to us through his kingdom, Holy Mother Church,
so that we too may come to be like him,
that we in our fallen humanity may be elevated to participate in his divinity.
And so, let us go forward confidently, knowing that if we too engage our Lord in discourse
and listen to the words he speaks, we too will be transformed.
For unlike any other human discourse, the conversation of the Son of God in the flesh
is a transforming conversation for those who humble themselves
to be formed by the very words of God in the flesh.
And so, the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, comes to comfort us because,
through the inspired word of text, the Holy Spirit gives us all those truths
that are necessary for our salvation, and communicates to us the knowledge
of the profound depths of the love of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit,
by whose power Jesus Christ was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary,
in order that he may become in the flesh.
The divine teacher of all humanity.
And so, let us strive to be more and more like our Lord, and less and less like sinful humanity.
Let us not, like our first parents, seek to hide ourselves from God,
but let us, like Nicodemus, engage God in conversation through prayers and sighs of repentance,
so that we may truly come to know what our Lord promised us in today's Gospel,
that if we are born again by water and the Holy Spirit,
then we are not far from God.
We are not far from the Kingdom of God, as Nicodemus was not far from the Kingdom of God.
And we know full well that Nicodemus entered into the Kingdom of God
because he is venerated as a saint in the Church of God.
And so, let us strive each and every moment of our lives to not be begotten of the flesh,
but truly be begotten of the Spirit, so that we can, at the end of our lives,
be seen as true sons of God, and join all the angels and the saints,
praising him together.
For all eternity.