Children of God 

   “See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God.” (1 John 3: 1) 

   We, the believers, are the children of God, the adopted brothers and sisters of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

   As an adoptive father this has a special meaning for me.  Adoption is the total acceptance of a child as one’s own.  When my wife and I adopted our twin boys our love for them was no different than our love for our natural daughters.  Even though we are not their biological parents we are and always will be their Mom and Dad.

   I think of St. Joseph who was the “adoptive” father of our Lord, Jesus Christ.  I feel a special closeness to Him in the love and care He provided our Lord.  Though things were not as he would have expected, he submitted himself wholeheartedly to the will of God, lovingly raising Jesus as his own son.

   When Nicodemus asked Jesus how one can be born again, He replied, “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.  What is born of flesh is flesh and what is spirit is spirit.” (John 3: 5 – 6).  By our baptism we were adopted into the family of God, the brothers and sisters of Christ.