Brethren: As long as the heir is a child, he differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all: hut is under tutors and governors until the time appointed by the father: so we also, when we were children, were serving under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, that He might redeem them who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because you are sons, God hath sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts crying: Abba, Father. Therefore now he is not a servant, but a son. And if a son, an heir also, through God. - Galatians 4:1-7
The few sentences which you have just read, written by Saint Paul to the faithful of Galatia, wonderfully illustrate the sublime and beautiful mystery which we are celebrating during this season. The Son of God made man, this is the mystery of the Nativity, the octave of which we are still celebrating. Now what is the end and chief fruit of this mystery! Why did the Son of God make Himself man? In order, says Saint Augustine and all the Fathers with one voice, that men might become as God; and Saint Paul in the text just read, adds, in order that men might become the children of God. With reason, then, the Church invites us to meditate upon the words of the Apostle just read, since they set forth the practical fruit of the Incarnation and of the Nativity. You will kindly listen while I explain them.
The scope of the whole Letter of Saint Paul to the Galatians is to show that the Law of Moses must come to an end and be replaced by the Law of Jesus Christ; the Law of Moses, says Saint Paul, was as a pedagogue who led the way to Jesus Christ; when He was come the office of pedagogue had no longer any reason to be and ceased naturally. The better to illustrate his meaning Saint Paul takes a parallel case from civil law, which is an evolution from the natural law.
He says: "As long as the heir is a child he differs in nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed by the father." Here is a child, he is the heir of his father and therefore truly the owner of all his possessions, but as long as he is a child and a minor he differs in no way from a servant; he must obey his preceptor and leave the administration of his property to guardians and attorneys; and though the real owner, he must continue in this state of dependence until the expiration of the time fixed by law and by his father, when he will enter into the full and free exercise of his rights as son. During this interval there is no difference between him and a servant, except that the state of servitude is lasting and that of a minor only temporary. We Hebrews, thus reasons Saint Paul, as long as we were under the Law of Moses, and we Gentiles, before the Gospel, were as children, helpless to do anything; we were in bondage under "the elements of the world"; we were bound by the weighty and minute prescriptions of the Law of Moses; we were slaves to the superstitions of the Gentiles; l we were as children, who before they enter upon the higher studies, learn the alphabet. In a word, all that time that intervened between Adam and Christ was a time of preparation; the whole human race was a learner and a minor, awaiting the time when it would be emancipated and, through the intervention of Jesus Christ, acquire full liberty over itself, casting off the swaddling clothes of the Synagogue and the superstitions and errors of Paganism.
And when did this emancipation of the human race take place? "When the fullness of time was come God sent His Son, made of a woman, made under the law." What is meant by this completion or fullness of time, as the Latin text has it? A thing is full when it is complete or perfect; and the fullness of time is come when the time is ripe and events are accomplished. When the time foretold by the prophets had arrived and all things were in readiness, the Father sent His Son, that is, the Son of God was made man. Do not fancy that God the Father sent His Son, as an earthly father might send his; no, God the Father can not be separated from the Son, their nature being identical, any more than we can separate our thought from our mind. He does not send the Son by physical movement, this being impossible in God; He does not send as if giving a command; God the Father sends the Son, who has one will with Himself, by having Him assume human nature, so that He who is God eternal and unchangeable began also to be man. The Son of the eternal Father became man by taking human nature of a woman. And here note that Saint Paul says that Jesus Christ took human nature of a woman to point out that man had no part in this, and that Jesus Christ was therefore born of a virgin. The Son of God was born of a virgin and was made subject to the law, that is, the Law of Moses. Jesus Christ, even as man, was not subject to the Mosaic law, being above all law; but though not subject to it, He voluntarily submitted to it and scrupulously observed all its prescriptions from the circumcision to the celebration of the pasch.
And why did Jesus Christ, who was under no sort of obligation to do so, submit Himself to the Law of Moses? Saint Paul gives the answer: "That He might redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." Jesus Christ took upon Him the whole burden of the Mosaic law for two reasons, that we might be freed from that law, which was a law of slaves; and that we might acquire all the rights of adopted sons. The Mosaic law was a law of fear; many of its transgressions were punished with death; it regarded the body rather than the spirit and its rewards were of this world; and Saint Peter calls it a yoke "which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear." Jesus Christ took the burden of this law upon Himself, as He took the burden of sin; He put an end to it forever, and in its place substituted His own law. "The law of the adoption of sons," or the Gospel. By nature we are creatures of God and therefore His servants, and the children of Israel were dealt with as servants, being terribly punished whenever they strayed from the path of duty. By the New Law, introduced by Jesus Christ, we are raised to the dignity of sons of God, and hence our motive of action should he, not fear, but love.
We are children of God by adoption. You know what adoption means and what are the rights which it carries with it. A man chooses a youth, no matter whom, declares him to be his son, gives him his name, keeps him in his own home, treats him and loves him as if he were his natural child, and, dying, he makes him heir to all his possessions. Such is an adopted child, and such the dignity which we owe to Jesus Christ. Without any sort of merit on our part He chose us out from the midst of men, in Baptism He made us His sons, He received us into His Church, into His own household and kingdom; He loves us as sons, He makes us sharers in all the spiritual goods of His Church, and He will give us an everlasting heritage in heaven. Such is the meaning of being adopted sons of God.
But this is not all, my friends. Our dignity as sons of God implies relations between God and us incomparably more intimate than those that exist between an adopted son and the father who has adopted him, and to this point I call your attention. A youth becomes the son of another by adoption and he is regarded as if he were his natural son and has the same rights. But I ask you, has the father who adopted him transmitted to him any of his nature or personality? Absolutely none. This father loves his adopted son with a very deep and sincere love, he calls him his son, he lavishes favors on him, and he gives him wealth without end; still that young man will never be the son of his adopted father except by authority of law and in the common estimation. In his veins there will never run a single drop of the blood of the man who adopted him; the fact will always remain that he derived his life from another, and that his true father is not and can not be his father by adoption, and this his looks, his moral nature, his inclinations and tastes, his character and habits will clearly show.
The adoption which we have received from God is quite a different thing. In adopting us He has given us what is most intimate to Himself; He has made us sharers of His Spirit and of His very life. Saint Paul says so in so many words: "And because you are sons He hath sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts The Spirit of Jesus Christ is the Holy Ghost Himself, the substantial love of the Father and the Son, and Jesus Christ pours this spirit into our souls by the grace which sanctifies us in Baptism and which is augmented in Confirmation and in all the other sacraments, but particularly in the Blessed Eucharist. And what is this grace, this gift of the Holy Ghost? It is a force that comes out from God Himself, that takes possession of the soul, penetrates and permeates it through and through, beautifies it, transforms it, and makes it like unto God. Iron thrust into the fire is wholly .penetrated by the fire, transformed by it, and still it continues to be iron. This is an image of a soul adorned with the grace of God. It is intimately united to God, it is made beautiful with the beauty of God, as the flower is made beautiful by the light of the sun; it receives into itself an influx of the very life of God, as the twig receives its life from the root and stem of the vine; by grace the soul, still remaining a created soul, participates of the divine nature and bears on itself the lineaments and the likeness of God, and feels that it has a full right to say to God: "Our Father!" Oh, yes, as Saint John says, not only may we call ourselves the sons of God but we are such in reality: That we may be called and may be the sons of God. My friends, what a dignity - what a greatness! Sons of God! Therefore being sons we ought to respect Him, obey Him, honor Him in our lives, put all trust in Him, love Him tenderly and above all things else.
- Bishop Geremia Bonomelli, D.D., Diocese of Cremona, Italy