Exactly. But the Spirit breathes where He will so that rebirth comes at the judgment of God’s will. (Now God wills that no one should perish so one must assume children before the age of accountability have life through Christ, they are just unaware of it or are later made unaware of it.) But it is when the Spirit comes in our life that you become aware of the ‘‘free gift in life in Jesus Christ’’. And upon the reception of the Spirit in an active way, ie ‘‘tasting the heavenly fruit’’, you learn the following ‘‘8And when he is come, he will convince the world of sin, and of justice, and of judgment. 9Of sin: because they believed not in me. 10And of justice: because I go to the Father; and you shall see me no longer. 11And of judgment: because the prince of this world is already judged.’’
So first you will see Christ as the only way to believe, secondly that He is the Lamb of the world and can no longer die (having gone to the Father), and of judgment because Satan and the order of things before; put Him, an Innocent, to death.
Hi there!.
I want to point out something to you. This is what you said before.
Read the next portion"…How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb, and be born again? 5Jesus answered: Amen, amen I say to thee, unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost,…’’
So how one is born again is by water and the Holy Spirit. The water is the water He speaks about in John 4, the water Jesus gives (through his words/the gospel) and from that it will ‘‘spring up into life everlasting’’ by the indwelling of the HS. The next verses talk a bit about how the Spirit functions in that when He comes you will not know but it will happen all of a sudden.
You were right in saying that the Holy Spirit will spring up into life everlasting. That is the action of the baptismal water we receive at baptism and why we dip our hands in the baptismal font and bless ourselves in remembrance of our baptism. We don’t know when that ‘ahha’ moment will happen but when it does, we know it. Many children are even called by God when they are very very young. I’ve heard it said from one person they thought they had a calling from God while they were in their mothers womb. This grace comes from God and though it is in us from baptism even though we may not ‘feel’ it as an infant. It is not dependent on our feeling, though through desire for the Lord grace grows. Like the mustard seed, from the smallest seeds grows the largest of plants! It is like the wellspring that springs up and flows freely…!
The water which gives life is baptismal water, it’s also called living water because it’s sourcedoes when it is planted near a stream… is Jesus Christ is the flowing water so that we can grow "spiritually’ as the tree and branches need a source of water to continue to grow. That water is our baptismal water that saves us by making us a child of God.
John 3: 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can Now read the scripture about Nicodemus. anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of ‘water and Spirit.’
Keep the words ‘water and spirit’ together and you can see this.
Now this scripture makes sense in that light. Here we learn that Baptism was prefigured in the story of Noahs ark where those saved were saved by ‘water’.
1 Peter 3: He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, 20 who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were
saved through water. 21
And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for[f] a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.
and the scriptures where St. John the Baptist speaks of Jesus who will baptize with water for repentance, but Jesus baptizes ((( (with water) with the Holy Spirit. ))))
Matthew 3: 11 “I baptize you with[a] water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals**. He will baptize you with** the Holy Spirit and fire.
So if you can picture this, the water having the Holy Spirit in it because it is Spiritual Holy Water… It’s not just any water, it’s sanctified Holy Water. How can it be? Because Jesus says that it is so it is. Jesus in fact commands that this baptism will make them disciples.
Matthew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
In fact, Peter confirms that we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit in baptism.
Acts 2:38 Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
And it does say in the catechism that we receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit through our baptism. Baptism is a rite of initiation into the Church that is shared with the community as a welcoming rite, it welcomes us into the Kingdom as a Child of God, we receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit from it. It sanctifies us and makes us holy because it removes any impurities off our soul. That’s why it is the first sacrament we receive.
vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c1a1.htm
Whew theres’ a lot there but I hope it answers questions. Peace…
