In our intensely virtual world, we can find connections readily enough. Smartphones, websites, conference calls, messages… there have never been so many ways to be in touch.
Despite all these possible connections we have nowadays, my experience as a priest has taught me that many struggle to connect.
There seems to be an insatiable longing that God has put onto the human heart for nothing less than Himself. As St. Augustine so famously said: “Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they rest in Thee”. I would imagine that most believers have experienced the truth of this from time to time. And it can sting!
While we cannot fully enter into that rest while we are on this earthly pilgrimage, we can take a lot of comfort knowing that by our Baptism God has adopted us as his sons and daughters. We hear this articulated so beautifully in our Collect (opening prayer) at Mass this week:
“O God, by whom we are redeemed and receive adoption, look graciously upon your beloved sons and daughters, that those who believe in Christ may receive true freedom and an everlasting inheritance.”
We can make a profound difference in this world by helping the Baptized to realize that God has adopted them as sons and daughters, and by working to share this gift of Baptism with those who have yet to experience it. Baptism truly connects us with the Body of Christ, the Church.
Fr. Connor O’Hara