The Spirit of Adoption

Good News ReflectionMonday of the 30th Week in Ordinary TimeOctober 26, 2009
Halloween's almost here. What's the right perspective about it? See my Good News WordByte on it:http://wordbytes.org/occult/halloween.htm
Today's Readings:Rom 8:12-17Ps 68:2, 4, 6-7ab, 20-21Luke 13:10-17http://www.usccb.org/nab/102609.shtmlUSCCB Podcast of the Readings:http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/09_10_26.mp3
The Spirit of Adoption
What does Saint Paul mean when he says, in today's first reading, that we received a "spirit of adoption"?
The Holy Spirit of God, he says, bears witness – testifies – that we are God's children. We are his heirs, which implies a wonderful inheritance. We were born as mere humans, totally lacking God's supernatural nature, but we have been adopted into his loving family with all the riches of our Father's kingdom.
In the Creed, we say that "we believe in one God, the Father of all." He was our Father since the moment he created us in our human mother's womb. He's the only true (i.e., perfectly loving) Father that we've ever had. So – why do we need a spirit of adoption?
When we sin, we break the spiritual connection between us and our Creator. It's like the rebellious son who rejects the teachings of his parents and adopts a contrary lifestyle. He cannot break the birth bond. He cannot put an end to his blood connection with his parents, not even if he changes his name. However, the family's spiritual connection has been broken. When the son finally reconciles with his parents, the spiritual bond must be restored: Trust has to be rebuilt and hearts need to be healed.
When we reconcile with God, how can we rebuild trust? He knows that we'll sin again. Although we sincerely want to be good children, he knows he cannot trust us to remain sinless. So he gave us a spirit of adoption. It's a gift from the Father's tremendous, unconditional love for us. Because of this spirit of adoption, it doesn't matter that we cannot be trusted. The Father trusts his own Holy Spirit, and "the Spirit bears witness that we are God's children."
Our Father does not hold our past sins against us. He does not base our future with him on how we treated him in the past nor on what we're capable of doing again. The past has nothing to do with his acceptance of us or his desire to partner with us in ministry. Rather, our Father bases everything on the spirit of adoption.
Were we sincere in wanting to reconcile with him? That's all that matters.
If we stay connected to him through the spirit of adoption, as true children of our Daddy-God, we treat others with the same mercy. When a bond has been broken and trust has not been rebuilt, if the person sincerely wants to reconcile with us, we have to place our trust in the spirit of adoption – not on human flesh, but on God's own Spirit. It's the only way we can be healthy and holy in our dealings with those who have hurt us and now hope to restore a good relationship with us.
If you're facing a difficult reconciliation with someone, use my e-book "The Path to Healing in Difficult Relationships"; download it from http://catholicdr.com/ebooks/relationships.htm.
© 2009 by Terry A. ModicaFor PERMISSION to copy any of my reflections, go to:http://gogoodnews.net/DailyReflections/copyrights-DR.htm
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