…and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise. – Luke 20:36
Being a child of God means that we shall live forever with Him. Those of us who have been baptized have the power to become God’s children (John 1:12). The Lord promised that His children shall have eternal life: “those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead…are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise” (Luke 20:35-36). Other Bible versions use the phrase “children of the resurrection.” I like this translation because it shows the relationship between being children of God and receiving the promise of the resurrected life.
It’s important to note that Catholics believe in “the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting” (Apostles’ Creed). The Catechism teaches: “We firmly believe, and hence we hope that, just as Christ is truly risen from the dead and lives for ever, so after death the righteous will live for ever with the risen Christ and he will raise them up on the last day” (CCC 988). Yes, even our bodies will rise again, not just our souls: “God, in his almighty power, will definitively grant incorruptible life to our bodies by reuniting them with our souls, through the power of Jesus’ Resurrection” (CCC 997).
The sacraments enable us to be the children of the resurrection. Through Baptism we are united with Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. Through the Eucharist, Jesus imparts His life upon us: “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day” (John 6:53-4). The Greek word for “life” that St. John uses here and throughout his Gospel is zoe. It’s different than just being alive: it’s the absolute fullness of God’s abundant life.
Jesus, I believe that You are “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6). Help me to live and share Your abundant life–zoe–now and forever as a child of the resurrection.