I’m always open to a new way of seeing things. I was reading the notes Tomas Merton prepared for lectures to novice monks when I came across a reference to a sermon by Isaac of Stella (c. 1100-1170s), a Cistercian Monk and abbot of a small monastery in France. He writes about people having three births. Three? What’s this about?

The first birth is what Isaac calls carnal (fleshly) birth. That’s the natural birth all of us have. The second birth is spiritual. That’s what happens in Baptism. The third birth is to immortality, that is the resurrection of the body that happens, well, when God causes it to happen.

Each birth gives us a life that is nourished in different ways. Our first birth is fed with material food–everything from milk to prime rib. The second birth gives us a life nourished by the sacrament–Holy Communion–where Christ takes the material food of bread and wine and makes it the sacramental food of his body and blood. In the resurrected life, God is our food.

This interpretation suggests a kind of progression in life, each stage bringing us closer to God. We are first off created in the image of God living in this created world. In Baptism ordinary water is used with the Word transforming us into spiritual beings who can handle and consume the mysteries of God. But in the end will come a moment when all of that is set aside, and we are simply with God.

It’s worth meditating on this during the Easter season.

Read 1 John 5:1 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne