Those Who are of God Listen

What makes us children of God is not dependent on something ordinary or arbitrary. It is not by chance, but by providence that we can count ourselves among God’s children. This is because our relationship with God is not by our initiative, we did not choose God, God chose us (John 15:16). Hence, it is through God’s invitation that we can count ourselves among His children. What makes us children of God is that He was gracious to grant us His Spirit. It is this Spirit of God within us that gives us the power and right to claim that we are children of God and heirs to His throne (Galatians 4:6-7).

The very fact that we are sons and daughters of God is a gift from God. So, what we celebrate at Christmas is a practical manifestation of this fact, in a unique way that gives us the confidence to live in the knowledge that God is always with us.

Not One-Sided

Today’s readings are not meant to reiterate this obvious fact that we are already God’s children. Rather, they show that our relationship with God is not a one-sided choice. It is one thing for God to choose us, and another for us to choose God.

That we have chosen God can only be evidenced by how we live. “He who keeps His commandments lives in God, and God lives in him. We know that he lives in us by the Spirit he has given us” (1 John 3:24).

When a father speaks of his son and says: “this cannot be my son,” he is not denying or disavowing the obvious fact that he is his son, rather he is denouncing and condemning his behavior, which is unworthy of the one who should be his son. Thus, our choice of God is determined by our way of life. The Christmas story sets this standard for us in a unique way. God chose Mary to be the mother of His son, Jesus. But Mary accepted this invitation, living up to the expectation, through her fiat mihi secundum verbu tuum (response to God’s own will).

[Readings: 1 Jn 5:14-21; Jn 2:1-11]