Being born again is a direct result of faith in Jesus, through His death and resurrection.

Good morning, happy Tuesday, and many blessings.
 
When Nicodemus (John 3:5a 7b-15) fell into error and wrested the words of Christ to the earthly birth and said that it was not possible for an old man to be born again, observe how Christ in answer more clearly reveals the manner of the Birth, which even thus had difficulty for the carnal enquirer, yet still was able to raise the hearer from his low opinion of it. What saith He? "Verily I say unto thee, except a person be born of water and of the Spirit, that person cannot enter into the Kingdom of God." What He declares is this: "Thou sayest that it is impossible, I say that it is so absolutely possible as to be necessary, and that it is not even possible otherwise to be saved." For necessary things God hath made exceedingly easy also.
 
So, he was someone who had what most people wanted. He had lots of money, the respect of all the people and intellectual credibility and when Nikodemus spoke; people listened. But in spite of everything he had he seemed to sense there was something missing and so, he came to have a little talk with Jesus.
 
What was Jesus trying to do? Jesus wanted to challenge Nicodemus' whole mind-set. And so Jesus gave him a conundrum to go away and think about. Jesus was challenging the whole way of thinking of the Pharisees. They thought that they made themselves fit for the Kingdom of God - by keeping the Law of Moses. And in effect Jesus was saying - No, you don’t. The only way is that: You must be born again. In other words, Nicodemus, you can't earn salvation, it is a free gift of God.
 
And that is as true today as it was for Nicodemus. Just like Nicodemus and the other Pharisees, there is a danger today that people think that they can earn a place in heaven - simply by going to Church and being nice people? But you can’t – you must be born again.
 
So, what does being born again mean? Being born again is a direct result of faith in Jesus - through His death and Resurrection. Something I believe Nicodemus himself learnt later. This is something that we experience – just like physical birth is. But unlike a natural birth, it is something we receive when we ask Christ to come into our lives. Many of us have our own personal story of how we experience this birth.
 
A spiritual birth could only come from God. Then in John 3:16, we have probably the most famous verse in the Bible: "God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life." Some have said that this verse is the gospel in miniature. Notice that the words gave and believe are in this verse. In order to receive eternal life, salvation, or righteousness, we must receive them as a gift from God. However, we were saved to do good works.
 
Blessings,
 
Fr. Luis+