“…God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a son and if a son then also an heir through God.”
            In his letter to the Galatians, Paul reminds us of the spectacular dignity that is ours as Christians. We have the privilege to address God with deep intimacy as our loving parent. God is the ideal parent who loves each and every one of us personally and unconditionally. There is nothing that we can do in this life that will alienate us from the love of God – absolutely nothing! No matter how far we may stray from God, when we are ready to return to God, we will find God running toward us with arms open to embrace us. Think of that image. If you feel that you are distant from God right now either because of a serious error that you made in your life, or because you simply wonder whether God really loves and cares for you, then turn to God right now. Tell God how much you want God in your life. Open your heart to feel the warm embrace of God as God affirms God’s love for you, God’s tender care for you.
            We are God’s beloved sons and daughters. We are not step-children of God whom God merely tolerates. We are beloved sons and daughters of God. And as beloved sons and daughters of God, God offers us the hope of everlasting life with God. We are heirs of the promise. The promise is this. If we live in faithfulness to God’s Son, trying to conform our lives as best as we can to the teaching and example of Jesus, then we confirm our identity as sons and daughters of God and we confirm our desire to receive the inheritance that is promised to all of God’s faithful sons and daughters – eternal life with God. The promise of God is that if we live as God’s sons and daughters then in death God will receive us God’s own and give each of us a share in God’s own eternal life. What a wonderful promise to us! What a wonderful source of hope for us!
            In this New Year, may each of us strive daily to live as true sons and daughters of God so that we might also live in the real and certain hope of one day enjoying eternal life with God.
                            Fr. Mark Hallinan, S.J