Children of God

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of all Saints which is one of the highest celebrations in the liturgical cycle of the Church. I think today’s second reading sums up this solemnity perfectly by stating, "See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God." 

We all want to be among the children of God. Because of sin and the fall we lost our original inheritance with God. We were created from the beginning to live with God's life in our souls, but because of selfishness we forfeited this birthright and decided we could be our own gods. This was not just an original act of disobedience, but one that we commit over and over again in our own personal lives. Every time we sin we are simply saying that our way is better. I heard a quote recently from Christ Stefanick who said, "If your god lets you do whatever you want, then your god is you." 

This has been humanity’s constant struggle since the fall, but the reality is that we were made from the beginning to live in the grace and light of the Lord. Today we celebrate all those who have gone before us who wanted to reclaim their inheritance. Of course, we reclaim this inheritance through what Christ did for us on the cross. He saw his people enslaved and stepped in to bring us back into his life. 

The goal of the Christian life is to live in such a way that we cooperate with the grace of the Lord and re-inherit our original birthright, to be called children of God. I am reminded of the beautiful scene from Guardians of the Galaxy when the ship is about to collide with earth and Groot, the half tree half human figure, knows that his friends will surely perish. Out of an act of pure love, Groot wraps his branches around his friends in order to save them from death and proclaims the famous line "We are Groot." I like to think of this scene in relation to the communion of saints. What Christ did on the cross was to save us from certain death and proclaim that we are all his family. 

John Paul II took this a step further in his reflections on Theology of the Body when he said, "The beatific vision is a union with God in his trinitarian mystery and of intimacy with him in the perfect communion of persons (TOB 67:4).” We are all made for intimacy with God in his trinitarian love. This goal of the Christian life can be reached by reflecting on and imitating the example of all those saints who have gone before us and have fought the good fight, have run the race, and have kept the faith. Let's look to them and pray for the grace not only to be called children of God here and now, but to live forever with God perfectly united to him in heaven. 

From all of us here at Diocesan, God bless!

By Tommy Shultz