We are God's Children Now"

Today's Mass Readings

In the secular world, the “Christmas” decorations have come down, people have gone back to work, and kids are starting to go back to school. And yet, in the liturgical calendar, Christmas continues as the Church reflects on the Incarnation, the Nativity and beyond. Today’s reading from the first letter of John proclaims that “we are God’s children now” and that “what we shall be has not yet been revealed.” That we are God’s children now and that in the future we will be more like God are both tremendous gifts! Is there a sign of this gift of God? Is there some way to know that Jesus is God among us? The gospel reading from John answers with a “yes!” In this passage we hear John the Baptist’s reaction to meeting Jesus. In a passage concerning the Spirit’s descent on Jesus at his baptism, John the Baptist testifies that Jesus truly is the Son of God! Amazing! The gospel passage, in pointing us to Jesus as the Son of God, points us to this first letter of John and the message that we are now all God’s children. This is the power of the Incarnation and the Nativity. Jesus, in coming among us as God’s Son and our brother, enabled us to become true children of God. But that is not all: as the saying goes, God became man, that man might become God. This is what John indicates when he says that we “shall be like” God. In becoming God’s children, we have the potential for what the Church calls “deification,” becoming holier and holier people. As we finish out this Christmas season, let us reflect on what a great gift it is to be children of God. And let us open our lives to God’s grace that we may continue to become more like God each day of our lives.

- Maria Morrow