Page:PracticalCommentaryOnHolyScripture.djvu/492

 member of  His  mystical  Body  on  earth,  which  is  the  Church,  and told him: “Amen,  amen,  I say  to  you,  unless  a man  be  born  again of water  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom of God.”  These  words  referred  to  the  Sacrament  of  Baptism.

He next  instructed  Nicodemus  in  the  mystery  of  the  Redemption. “As Moses”,  said  He,  “lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the desert, so  must  the  Son  of  Man  be  lifted  up,  that  whosoever believeth in  Him,  may  not  perish,  but  may  have  life  everlasting. For God  so  loved  the  world  as  to  give  his  only-begotten  Son, that whosoever  believeth  in  Him,  may  not  perish,  but  may  have life everlasting. For God  sent  not  His  Son  into  the  world  to judge  the  world,  but  that  the  world  may  be  saved  by  Him. He that believeth  in  Him  is  not  judged,  but  he  that  doth  not  believe is  already  judged.”  In  these  words  the  Saviour  taught  Nicodemus that  He  would  redeem  the  world  by  His  Passion  and death upon  the  Cross.