6th Sunday of Easter

by ©LPi — Father John Muir  |  05/14/2023  |  Gospel Meditation

My dad was adopted as a baby. It’s a big part of my family’s story. His birth mother placed him in a Catholic orphanage not long after birth. A young couple longing for a baby strolled among the bassinets. My father, then only a few months old, looked at the husband and smiled. The man said, “That’s my son.” They took him home and the family grew. This moment of adoption was a wonderful truth they celebrated even when my dad was a young boy. They told him, “You’re even more special than the other children, because we chose you to be our son.” My dad’s eyes well up with tears of gratitude whenever he tells the story, even eighty-three years later.

What is your story? Do we think or act like unwanted orphans? Who do we believe ourselves to be? As we continue to ponder Jesus’ resurrection, we hear him say to us this Sunday, “I will not leave you orphans.” God doesn’t leave us alone like spiritual orphans. The power that raised Jesus from the dead is the Holy Spirit, who is also called the Spirit of Adoption. He chooses us to be His children, to share God’s life forever. He gives us a future filled with hope.

We are not orphans anymore! This Easter, that’s the story we should share with others. It’s the true story we are living right now.