In love he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the favor of his will. // Ephesians 1:5
My hands were shaking, whether from the cold or trying to hold back emotion it’s hard to say. We stood on the National Mall in Washington, DC surrounded by a sea of humanity awaiting the start of the March for Life rally.
I stopped shaking long enough to take the picture. Standing before me was one of my 8th grade boys and his mom. Looking at them you’d never know they were mother and son, but the sign they were holding, the reason for my emotion, told the story, “Love Them Both.”
Fourteen years earlier that now-teenager was born because his mom and her husband decided to “love them both” and accompanied his birth mom through nine months of a crisis pregnancy that ended with him in their arms as their adopted son.
Sister, how many stories are there of babies placed with families because someone decided to “love them both” and embrace the gift of life through adoption? How many beautiful lives are being lived at this moment, that may have never been, if it weren’t for the self-sacrificing love of a mother who courageously gave birth to her child and heroically placed him for adoption?
On a much deeper level, we all experience this story of love. We were all rescued from the darkness of death by a Father Who loves us beyond imagining. We are not simply brought into His family, but made like Him, sharers in His Divine Life. He renews and restores our identity, chooses us to be His Own by Baptism, rescues us through His Son’s sacrifice on the Cross.
Sister, live this day in joy giving thanks for our adoption as His beloved daughters. Let’s also pray for all families who have welcomed children through the gift of adoption and for the mothers who have courageously placed their child for adoption. May all lives touched by adoption know the love of our true Father in Heaven.
He chooses us to be His own. // Sister Maria Fatima @SistersofMaryOPClick to tweet
Sister Maria Fatima grew up in Rhode Island and entered the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist in 2005. She holds a MA in Theology from the Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity. Sister is in her eleventh year of enlightening middle school minds and drawing hearts to Jesus while teaching religion and history. She currently resides at the motherhouse in Ann Arbor, MI, having previously taught in Texas, Florida, and Ohio. She is a contributing author to our Lent devotional All She Had.
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