God Is A Family

Maci is a young woman with as difficult a start in life as one can imagine.

She was born to parents who were drug addicts. When she was two years old, her father died of an overdose. Young Maci then lost her hearing as the result of a high fever when she was a toddler. Eventually, her mother was arrested and she was sent to live with her aunt.

Though she was able to provide Maci with a more stable home environment, her aunt did not give her the emotional support she needed. Because of all she had been through, Maci began misbehaving at home and at school. It finally reached a point at which her aunt decided she could no longer take care of her. So, she placed Maci in the foster care system.

Like her aunt’s house, Maci benefited from the structure of the group home she was placed in but suffered from the lack of love and emotional support. She yearned to be adopted into a home where she could be accepted and loved. With the help of an adoption agency, she put together a “Forever Family” video in hopes that a family would see it and choose to adopt her into their home.

However, when she entered high school, she began to give up hope of ever being adopted and resigned herself to spending the rest of her childhood in group homes.

All the while, Gigi Kean, a secretary working at her high school, began to take notice of Maci. She was aware of her story and began to admire her for her strength. They eventually became friends.

One afternoon, Maci showed Gigi her “Forever Family” video. Afterwards she said sadly, “I just need to be realistic, no one wants to adopt me. Who would want me?” Maci’s words broke Gigi’s heart. That night, she spoke to her husband and they began the process of adopting Maci.

Having had her heart broken so many times before, Maci didn’t want to get her hopes up. Nonetheless, six weeks before her eighteenth birthday, Maci was adopted into Gigi’s home.

Speaking about the experience, Gigi said, “A child’s need for love, acceptance and the knowledge they will never be given up is the same at age 7 or 17. Age or special needs should never be a deterrent, people just need to understand that these children come with trauma, and love is the most healing thing you could offer.”

We all have a need to belong to a family. We all need a place to call home and the love of parents who will provide for us and never abandon us. Some of us have been blessed to come from strong, loving families. Others of us have not been so blessed. No matter what our circumstances in life might be, there is one family into which we are always welcomed. There is a family which will love us unconditionally, where we will find mercy in abundance and which will never abandon us. That family is the Most Holy Trinity.

On this day, we celebrate God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God is a family of persons who love one another and extend that love out to all people. The eternal life of heaven is nothing less than being welcomed into God’s home and becoming a part of the family.

It all begins with baptism. Through this first sacrament, we are adopted as daughters and sons of God, as Saint Paul tells us in today’s second reading: “...you received a Spirit of adoption, through whom we cry out “Abba, Father!” Through baptism and faith, we come to recognize God as a Father who promises to provide for us always. We also recognize Jesus as our big brother who shows us the way to live in our new family. And we receive the Holy Spirit which is the very love of God working within our hearts, minds and souls.

Then, through the sacrament of Holy Communion, we are welcome to God’s table. The center of all family life is the dinner table where we share food and grow in love for each other. Just so, at the center of the family of God is the table of the Eucharist where Jesus gives us His very Body and Blood to eat. In a sense, through this sacrament, God’s DNA is being infused into us. We start to take on the characteristics of the Father who so generously adopted us. We begin to love as He does and to show mercy to others as He does.

In the process, we are also introduced to the family business which is to spread the good news so that others may believe and join this ever growing family. We see this clearly in today’s gospel when Jesus sends the apostles into the world to make disciples of the nations, to baptize them into the family of God and to teach them all that He had instructed them. This is our call as well. We are to carry on the work of God to make known His love and His desire to adopt all people.

Finally, as adopted daughters and sons of God, there is an inheritance due to us. Saint Paul goes on to say in today’s second reading, “if [we are] children, then [we are] heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ”. That inheritance which awaits us is the everlasting life of heaven which is kept there by the Father for all those who join His family and take part in the struggle to bring all people to repentance and faith.

We all desire to belong to a family. Our greatest desire, however, is to belong to the family of God. God is a family - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is not only a doctrine for us to memorize but a reality for us to live. It is the reality of God’s love which He invites us all to share in. It is a reality that is ours through the sacrament of baptism by which we are adopted into the family and given the promised inheritance of everlasting life. Since God has so generously adopted us into His family, let us show our gratitude by taking up our Heavenly Father’s work. Then our family will extend throughout the world to the glory of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.