Word to the Wise
Thursday, January 3, 2019 - Jan. 3
[1 John 2:29-3:6 and John 1:29-34]See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure. [1 John]
When I was a kid (oh so many years ago), we had a funny expression: "God is my father, Mary is my mother, Jesus is my brother - I come from a very religious family!" To be called a child of God is not just a pious expression. St. Paul speaks of the baptized person as an "adopted" child of God and a "co-heir" with Christ! [Romans 8:17]. This is a profound relationship, no matter how much or little we may realize it. But when we do realize it and strive to live according to that relationship, our lives take on a greater and deeper significance. Perhaps this image of childhood is easier to keep in mind in this season when the birth of Christ is celebrated and the manger scene with the baby Jesus is still around (at least in recent memory). But the parent-child relationship is not seasonal even if it can have lots of ups and downs!
We express this relationship thousands of times when we say the "Our Father," which Jesus has taught us. When we make the Sign of the Cross, we express faith in the fatherhood of God, not just of Jesus, but Father to us all. Kinship is a profound natural bond, but it is also a profound spiritual bond. It may seem strange to think of God as "Dad," especially if our relationship to our natural father has been difficult, but if we can accept God's love as shown in the birth of Jesus, we can join with Jesus in his prayer each day and be truly children of God. AMEN