Unless she were born again: Mary and the high birth

# “Unless One is Born Again, One Cannot See the Kingdom of God”## Scriptural Reflection on Mary’s Role in Salvation (John 3:1-8)**”In truth, I tell you, unless one is born anew, one cannot see the kingdom of God,”** (John 3:3) – Jesus proclaims to Nicodemus. Nicodemus, a learned teacher of Israel, comes from the darkness of ignorance and fear, seeking understanding. Jesus presents him with a radical concept: rebirth is not a gradual process but an absolute necessity for entering the Kingdom of God.Mariology finds here a rich and under-explored connection: Mary is the first person in history to be born “from above.” This isn’t referring to the Annunciation, but to her Immaculate Conception—she was preserved from original sin and constituted in full grace from the very beginning of her existence. God’s “fiat” regarding Mary is ontologically akin to Jesus’ announcement to Nicodemus; it signifies a birth from above that grants access to the Kingdom.## I. The Paradox of NicodemusNicodemus, intelligent and sincere, acknowledges Jesus’ divine origin through his miracles (John 3:2). However, his natural intelligence fails to grasp the mystery of the Kingdom. He questions, *”How can a man be born again when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb?”* (John 3:4) Nicodemus envisions new birth as a biological repetition of the old.Jesus corrects him: *”No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit”*(John 3:5). New birth is pneumatological, coming “from above,” from the Holy Spirit. It’s not a second human birth but a divine generation.Mariology identifies here the principle governing the relationship between the Holy Spirit and Mary. Luke 1:35 states, *”The Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.”* This “overshadowing” (episkiazein) signifies divine presence, mirroring the coverage of the Tabernacle in the desert (Exodus 40:35). Mary is the Tabernacle of the Spirit, upon whom the Spirit descended uniquely and singularly.## II. The Immaculate Conception: An Anticipated Birth from AboveThe doctrine of the Immaculate Conception highlights Mary’s role as the first fruit of redemption, born “from above” before all others. This anticipatory birth prepares her to be the Mother of the Savior, ensuring her complete freedom from sin and her capacity to respond in faith to God’s call.## The Doctrine of the Immaculate ConceptionThe doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, defined by Pope Pius IX in *Ineffabilis Deus* (1854), asserts that Mary was “preserved immaculate from all stain of original sin, by a singular grace and privilege of God the omnipotent, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ.” This anticipatory preservation is, theologically speaking, a birth ‘avant la lettre’ (before the letter).Duns Scotus presented the decisive argument: *Potuit, decuit, ergo fecit* (He could do it, it was fitting, therefore he did it). God could preserve Mary sinless from her very conception (omnipotence), and it was befitting as the Mother of the Son (dignity), so he did. Scotus’ argument is the perfect mediation argument: a redeemer who preserves anticipatorily is more perfect than one who heals *a posteriori*. Mary represents the extreme and perfect case of redemption, the first in the kingdom of the redeemed, the ripe fruit of Christ’s Passover before Christ.Ratzinger, in his *Complete Works*, notes that the Immaculate Conception is not an exception to the plan of redemption but its starting point. Mary is *redempta excellentiori modo* (redeemed in a more excellent way, DH 2803). Her birth from above anticipates what baptism will achieve for all believers.## III. “The Spirit blows where it wills”: Mary and the Freedom of the Spirit“The wind blows where it wants, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). The birth from above bears the mark of the sovereign freedom of the Spirit. It is ungovernable, unpredictable, unprogrammable; it is the *pneuma* that goes where it pleases.In Marian tradition, this freedom of the Spirit is linked to Mary’s virginity. *Virginity of Mary* signifies precisely that the Incarnation did not follow biological generation but the sovereign freedom of the Spirit. Mary did not “generate” through natural force but by the exclusive action of the Spirit who *came upon her*.Mary’s virginity is far from peripheral; it stands in intimate connection with the core of faith. Virginity is the visible sign that the birth of Jesus, and by extension the birth from above of every believer, is an act of the Spirit, not human desire.## IV. “Do not be amazed”: Faith that Does Not Require Immediate Understanding“Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again'” (John 3:7). Jesus does not exhaustively explain *how*; he points to the sign of the wind and invites faith. Nicodemus struggles to comprehend. He will need further guidance (John 7:50; John 19:39-40, it is Nicodemus who brings myrrh for Jesus’ burial).Maria never asked *how can I be redeemed without having been conceived?* She simply was, by grace. The *fiat* was not the answer to an understanding, but the response to a trust. The Spirit blows where it wills; Mary opened her window.The *Redemptoris Mater* (John Paul II, 1987, n. 14) describes Maria’s “*pilgrimage of faith*” as a path that goes “*beyond all understanding*”: Maria advances without seeing the full destination, sustained by the Spirit who guides her. This is the model for Nicodemos and for all of us.We invite you to contemplate on this Easter day the mystery of the birth from above, not as a mystical metaphor but as an ontological reality that begins with Mary. She is the first citizen of the Kingdom born from above. And in every Baptism, the Church repeats in history what God did for Maria in her first moment of existence.What does “Nisi natus fuerit denuo” mean in Mariology?The Latin expression from John 3:3, “*if anyone is not born again*”, sheds light on Mary’s role in the spiritual birth of Christians. Mariology understands Mary as the spiritual Mother of all who, through Baptism, are born from above in Christ.What is Mary’s role in the spiritual birth according to theology?Mary, Mother of the Word Incarnate, is also the spiritual Mother of the faithful. At the foot of the Cross (John 19:26-27), Jesus entrusted her with all the disciples. Thus, her motherhood extends to every Christian who is born from above by grace.How does Mariology interpret the relationship between John 3 and Mary’s motherhood?Mariological exegesis of John 3 relates the birth of the Spirit to Mary’s maternal mediation: just as she generated the Son of God in history, she intercedes and accompanies the spiritual birth of each child of God in faith.Deepen your studies: explore Mariology, Marian Theology, Marian Apparitions, and a Master’s program in Mariology.To deepen your understanding of Christ’s spiritual birth, refer to the Encyclical *Redemptoris Mater* by Pope John Paul II.Prof. Daniel AfonsoRome, April 13, 2026