A
key element in understanding who one is, is to appreciate and accept
where one has to come from. Roots are important. To be secure in one's
origins is a cornerstone for growing into maturity. To be unwilling
to fully accept one's beginnings is a recipe for lifelong frustrations
as one searches endlessly for inadequate substitutes.
People
identify us a surname springing from our roots and may often categorize
us by our social origins. The people of Jesus' time did it to him. He
was son of Joseph, the carpenter from Nazareth and a child of Mary,
whose relations were all around the place. Jesus was comfortable and
grateful for these roots. Without rejecting them, he gradually grew
in a wisdom that enabled him to realize that he was much more, that
he was Son of one whom he called Father.
The
wonder of this relationship possessed him more and more throughout his
life and he strove to share it with the disciples and in turn, with
us. This living love relationship between the Father and himself, he
called the Spirit whom he promised to send to live in our hearts. Father,
Son and Holy Spirit, the awesome core of faith which we celebrate on
Trinity Sunday.
Our
roots are human but they are more. We come from God and are rooted in
God. This is the reason for the hope that is in us, a hope that we must
never let any person or circumstance steal from us. To lose such roots
would be to be impoverished forever.
Glory
be to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Claretian Publications MACAU