How to keep our dignity as children of God

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

WE can get an inkling of the answer to that question from some words of St. Paul in his Letter to the Ephesians. He said, “He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted in his sight in charity. He has predestinated us unto the adoption of children through Jesus Christ unto himself according to the purpose of his will.” (1,4-5)

Yes, our dignity as children of God is a matter of adoption through Jesus Christ who is the pattern of our humanity and the savior of our damaged humanity. And that adoption can only take place if we abide by the will of God.

We need to realize that it is in knowing and doing the will of God that, in the end, truly matters in our life. Everything else should just be an occasion, means or reason to know and fulfill that will. It’s in knowing and doing the will of God that would make us children of his.

Remember that episode where Christ was told about the presence of his mother who was in the crowd listening to him? (cfr. Mt 12,48-50) Christ’s answer was clear as to what would constitute as being brother, sister and mother of his.

“Look, these are my mother and brothers,” he said. “Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!”

We should realize that the most important duty we have is to earnestly know and fulfill the will of God for us at every moment. We need to train ourselves for this duty, since we all know that we always tend to do our own will rather than God’s will.

Yes, we have to learn how to live by God’s will always. This, in the end, is what is most important to us. Otherwise, we would be undermining our very own freedom and our humanity itself. Whatever we do is done because we want it. It should be a fruit of our freedom.

What is most important is to conform our will to God’s will, which is indispensable to us. Otherwise, we sooner or later would destroy our freedom and our humanity itself, since God is the very author and the very lawgiver of our freedom and our humanity.

This is a basic truth that we need to spread around more widely and abidingly, since it is steadily and even systematically forgotten and, nowadays, even contradicted in many instances. We need to inculcate this truth to children as early as when they can understand and appreciate it. Then let’s give them the example of how it is lived.

God’s will is the source of everything in the universe. The whole of creation in all its existence, unity, truth, goodness and beauty starts from God’s will and is maintained by it. The entire range and scope of reality—be it material or spiritual, natural or supernatural, temporal or eternal—is “contained” there, not only theoretically but in vivo.

It would be absurd to believe that the whole reality can be captured by our senses and feelings alone, or by our intelligence that is working on its own and producing the arts and the sciences that we now have and that we continue to discover.

We need to pound it hard into our mind and heart that we need live by God’s will if we truly want to keep our dignity as children of God! We have to be wary of the many things that would now desensitize us from this need as we are prodded to go full-blast into self-indulgence.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com