Get stuck on the instruction booklet, or evolve
(Jn 3:7-15)
Life in the Spirit proceeds by new births, not according to a progress marked by mechanisms, skills, or instruction booklets.
Light interrogates, for a different dimension - where (giving way to a reversal of ideas, faces and perspectives) our ‘whys’ cease to making us pile up frustrations.
Nicodemus controlled any stagnation or progress by comparing them to the wisdom of the things of God on the basis of ancient [or of circle] expectations.
But not infrequently our growth proceeds in visions, in leaps and bounds - not even according to natural intelligence. Let alone the spiritual life.
It is not enough to practise and go along with transmitted or fashionable ideas, nor to agree with normal, external intentions.
Assimilating other people's knowledge and acquiring already expected expertise is not infrequently junk that blocks real developments - those that belong to us.
Unfortunately, in religious life one often proceeds automatically, and there seems to be no need to allow oneself to be saved or surprised by events.
In the adventure of Faith - which disorients - the Father's Plan and the Son's Work do not unfold in a reasonable manner, but in the motif of the disproportion of Love.
The Spirit's unit of measure is different from that of the agreed customs, or the latest fashion.
Its impetus is elusive Wind, 'visible' only in its effects.
The Secret is «from Above» (v.7): out of scale. It lurks in the unpredictability of crossroads, surpluses, new creations.
Life does not proceed by arguments to boredom: it protrudes or pales.
Thus, access to the Kingdom is not given by being tailored to Adam: «being flesh» and «things of the earth» (vv.6.12).
The threshold comes from what the Encounter with Christ works in those who follow Him - and are introduced into community or prophetic life as «regenerated sons».
The late editing of Jn reflects symbols and realities of Christian Baptism, wich was already widely experienced at that time.
E.g. in the Letter to Titus the ‘sacrament’ itself is referred to as «rebirth».
Jesus speaks to Nicodemus about the essential elements of the gesture: water and the Spirit - which is the Newness.
In the Spirit, water no longer has the only negative function of purifying or removing a burden [eliminating sin in the sign of a washing].
The ablutions’ water that slips away becomes precious and effective: it must be «assimilated» for growth, to create life - which now not only cleans or suffocates.
Birth in Water and Spirit speaks of new existence after producing a Void that takes us elsewhere...
Not so much in the refreshment and quiet peace, but into the unpredictable that often messes up everything - even in a decisive way.
The new Genesis is not bound to any law: as an intimate Creation.
Mysterious, inexplicable reality, but infallibly leading to completeness - although it can be very fast, instantaneous; completely indeterminable, especially in comparison to normal devout adhesion.
It is Action beyond any purpose and process: a bit like reality and the very work of the Wind.
Not simply "eternal life", but «Life of the Eternal» [v.15 Greek text].
Personal life - which in all spheres disseminates unknown energies, clears the gaps, the hollows of routine, captures new synchronies.
Here the Crucified One who takes communion is the elevated light point that attracts and shifts our gazes, going beyond foggy thoughts and usages; around whom we gather as new sons and brethren.
[Tuesday 2nd week in Easter, April 14, 2026]
