Daily Retreat 01/03/06

2006 Jan 3 Tue: Christmas Weekday/ Holy Name of Jesus

1 Jn 2:29--3:6/Ps 97(98)/Jn 1:29-34

From today’s readings: "See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God..... All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.... Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"

Children of God

At the Incarnation, when God became man, human nature was elevated - no longer were we to be considered mere creations of God, now Jesus our Brother gives us the right to be called children of God. This is the highest dignity of our race - even if an alien race were discovered which surpassed human intelligence, they would still rank below us in the order of grace, for we are the only "blood relatives" of God!

That’s why the birth of Christ has universal, direct significance for every human being of the past, present, and future. And that’s why our Christian moral obligations to others of our race goes beyond just the minimal, "Do no harm." As children of God, united as members of His holy family, we have the divine command to "Love one another." Divine adoption enriched our nature not just with great dignity, but great responsibility.

And that’s not all - St. John reminds us, "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." So God is not finished with us yet - in the end, those adopted children of God who persevere in His grace will be glorified in body and soul and have the fullness of sharing the Resurrection of Christ!