For those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, “Abba, Father!”
The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. (Romans 8:14-17 NABRE)
Christians, by reason of the Spirit’s presence within them, enjoy not only new life but also a new relationship to God, that of adopted children and heirs through Christ, whose sufferings and glory they share.*
Adoption is a heady and complex thing for a child. But at the bottom of it all, it should mean that someone loved the child enough to commit to being his parent, to becoming her family. And with family, children have mommies and daddies to turn to in their need. With family, there is history and inheritance. And in Jesus' family, there is suffering in this life and glory in the next.
Today, I will be grateful for my Abba, my Brother, and my entire family in Christ.
Saint John Francis Regis, whose faith and goodness touched others and brought them to deeper faith, pray for us.
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