WE ARE GOD’S CHILDREN NOW
“Beloved, we are God’s children now.” - John 3:2
In today’s first reading, St. John reminds us of the “love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God.” Then it’s almost as if he anticipates push-back, because he follows with the statement, “yet so we are.” It feels as if he is speaking to the part of me that struggles to accept God’s tender paternal love.
In my heart, I deeply want to welcome God as my Father. However, it can sometimes be a struggle to allow myself to be a beloved child. Part of me wants to be self-reliant, independent and not need help from anyone, perhaps afraid of letting myself be vulnerable. And there is also a part of me that believes I’m too broken to be worthy of this perfect love so freely offered. Afterall, I had been away from the church for over 20 years.
I just returned from a pilgrimage to Mexico City where I visited the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. What struck me the most about Our Lady’s apparition was the way in which she emphasized her maternal care as she said, “Am I not here, I, who am your Mother?...Are you not in the hollow of my mantle, in the crossing of my arms?” Her words soothe the wounded, scared and defensive parts of me that try to resist the goodness of God’s parental love.
In my faith journey, Our Lady has helped me feel safe to open my heart and let God into the wounds that keep me in a state of self-rejection. Through her intercession, may we all embrace the enduring truth that, regardless of our past or present messiness, all that matters is that “we are God’s beloved children now.”
Martin Vitorino
Photo credit: LA Catholics