Memorial of Saint Agatha, Virgin and Martyr
Our first reading and Psalm today reflect the reality of our adoption in Christ: that through the Spirit, we are beloved sons and daughters of the Father. This gift of the Father’s love is never revoked. But depending on our condition and circumstances, we may experience God’s parental love in different ways.
At times, we experience the love of God as the Psalmist describes it when he sings, As a father has compassion on his children, / so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him. When we are in need of mercy, God’s love comes to us as this fatherly care, as the kindness of the LORD that is from eternity to eternity. It is a love that heals and soothes broken hearts, a love that binds up wounds.
There are other times and situations when God’s love comes to us in a quite different way, as the trials spoken of by the author of Hebrews: the trials that accompany the life of all who seek to live the Gospel faithfully, following the footsteps of Christ, who embraced the Cross. And although in the moment the Cross seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness, namely, Resurrection.
Today, let us ponder the full reality of our adoption as the Father’s children, called to follow the pattern of his Only-Begotten Son. And let us live in the Spirit of his Son God has sent into our hearts, crying out, Abba, Father!