Nicodemus was one of the Pharisees, a man with some clout among his people. He came to Jesus under the cloak of darkness to question Him.
Nicodemus: Teacher, some of us have been talking. You are obviously a teacher who has come from God. The signs You are doing are proof that God is with You.
Jesus: I tell you the truth: only someone who experiences birth for a second time can hope to see the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus: I am a grown man. How can someone be born again when he is old like me? Am I to crawl back into my mother’s womb for a second birth? That’s impossible!
Jesus: I tell you the truth, if someone does not experience water and Spirit birth, there’s no chance he will make it into God’s kingdom. Like from like. Whatever is born from flesh is flesh; whatever is born from Spirit is spirit. Don’t be shocked by My words, but I tell you the truth. Even you, an educated and respected man among your people, must be reborn by the Spirit to enter the kingdom of God. The wind blows all around us as if it has a will of its own; we feel and hear it, but we do not understand where it has come from or where it will end up. Life in the Spirit is as if it were the wind of God.

Today’s (April 20th) Gospel reading, Jn 3: 1-8, set me thinking that we are getting a jolt with regard to our abilities, certainties and securities. These have made us rather conceited in the past, as is clear from Jewish history before the Temple-destruction, and our own CB history. We were the cat’s pyjamas once and then, the CA! What the destruction of the Temple was to the Jews, CA is to us CBs, and C-19 to the human race!

So, here we are, like Nicodemus - coming to Jesus at night. We are a little unsure now, groping in darkness, trying to make meaning out of our present state.
Nicodemus knows (v.2) Jesus is a rabbi. We also know that Covid-19 stemmed from Wuhan, and that is all. We too think we know this rabbi, and yet we do not know (v.8b) where the Spirit comes from or is going.

Can we start from Ground Zero, and learn something from the dialogue between Jesus and Nicodemus? Our General Chapter, when it resumes, will be the first to span two different eras - BC & AC - Before Covid & After Covid.

Hence, how different will the Chapter be? Is it to tease out what it means to be born again, to be born of water and the Spirit or from above?
The message of this rabbi is about transformation. Does that mean casting aside extreme humanism, that in human experience and rational thinking lie the future? Instead, does it involve new sources of power, like embracing vulnerability, intuition & trust in the God of that rabbi?
How else does the dialogue between Nicodemus and the rabbi give us a 20/20 vision for our Chapter and of the future?

Conrad D’Souza, Jyntru (near Shillong)