Faith: Means to Become God’s Children
[As Savior Jesus] rekindled in us the faith in that intimate, real and close supernatural kinship by which we obtain the right to become children of God, heirs of God and co-heirs with Jesus Christ. (OOCC, XIII, p. 148; GIL, XXIV, p. 91)
God the Father manifested his love for humankind in sending Jesus as the Savior of the world. Jesus, in order to accomplish the plan of the Father, became a human being, thereby making a person to open himself to the life of God. His opening of himself to a life of relationship with God is brought about by faith which Jesus enkindles in the heart of every person. Because a person is blessed with faith, there comes about an intimate, real and close supernatural relationship between him and God. As the result of this deep relationship, he obtains the right to become a child of God. As God’s child, a person becomes an heir of God and co-heir with Jesus. As the encounter between the human person and God takes place in faith, he moves beyond his natural realm of existence and is raised to the supernatural level. At this higher plane of existence, he is able to participate in the very life of the Holy Trinity. The realization of this truth made St. Vincent Pallotti pray often asking God to destroy his life of sin and ingratitude, and bless him with the very life of Jesus and that of the most Holy Trinity.
Do I acknowledge faith as the gift of Jesus to me? How strong is my faith in God? Do I nurture and deepen the gift of faith so that I may be able to participate in the very life of the most Holy Trinity? Am I grateful to God for the honor of calling me to be a child of God, an heir of God and a co- heir with Jesus?
But without faith it is impossible to please him, for anyone who approaches God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (Heb. 11: 6)