There is quite a bit of interest these days in genealogy. Websites like Ancestry.com offer their extensive databases and resources to trace a family’s lineage. With the advent of the Genome Project it is now possible to use DNA to chart your family tree. Imagine discovering that your ancestors were royalty! How about famous? Or infamous!
If we go back as far as we can go, whom would we find? Adam and Eve? No, keep going a few billion years past that to the God family. What a pedigree! There they are (and always were and will be). This family, Father, Son and Holy Spirit share an intimacy that is perpetual and perfect in its harmony. Oh, if only we could trace our roots to this family of all families!
Wait … we can! All who have been baptized into Christ are related to the God family by blood; the blood of Christ. A very effective way of realizing what being baptized into Christ means would be to substitute the word “adopted” in place of baptism into the God Family. Being adopted into a family means that all of the rights and privileges associated with natural birthrights are shared with those joining as adopted sons and daughters. Just as St. Paul, who by his own admission was “untimely born” (1 Corinthians 15:8), we too share this adopted status as members of the Church Militant.
The good news of the Gospel is that every single baptized person that ever was and ever will be can follow their family tree to the God Family. The communion of saints, a common belief among Christians, is comprised of brothers and sisters of every time and place throughout the history of our planet. The God Family — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — have established a Kingdom that is eternal and accessible through Christ the Son. It is through Him, with Him, and in Him that the God Family exists. Any genealogy that fails to acknowledge the God Family is woefully inadequate. The indelible mark that is received in baptism might not show up on a DNA test, but it is the surest indicator of our status as heirs to this eternal Kingdom.
In a world where isolation and detachment are all too common, the discovery of our identity in the God Family can provide the certitude of our place in salvation history. In the Kingdom of God, where the last shall be first and all will have a place at the table, it is important to know where we came from and where we are going. Just as the head of a household might travel to a new country ahead of the rest of the family, so too did Jesus enter into Heaven as the first fruits of the many to follow (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:20, 23). A place has indeed been prepared for us, and the residents of Heaven all await our arrival!
In the ongoing incarnation of Christ, baptized members of the family of God here on Earth can unite with the Communion of Saints in praising and thanking God for this wonderful, eternal heritage and our Divine genealogy.
4 thoughts on “Genealogy and the God Family”
You state unequivocally” “The good news of the Gospel is that every single baptized person that ever was and ever will be can follow their family tree to the God Family.”
Well, the opportunity for Catholic baptism is about 2,000 years old. Human normalcy was arrived at about 65,000 years ago. There are also tens of thousands of “uncontacted” people throughout the world. So they do not have a ability to connect their family tree to the God’s family? This is a highly unlikely and implausible scenario from any religious perspective since all people are part of the Source, the God, the Prime. Who are you to condemn the majority of the human race from the first person in the plains of Ethiopia to dismemberment from God’s family tree and God himself. A bit of solipsistic thinking?
“The good news of the Gospel is that every single baptized person that ever was and ever will be can follow their family tree to the God Family.”
Ergo : all unbaptized persons are orphans and inherit nothing. No wonder Catholic theology is scorned.
james your thinking is muddled again. Protestants theology teaches the same thing about Baptism.
We’re talking global theology here, something the CC is coming around to respecting –
and who cares about Christian religions that are so hobbled they don’t have the faith to transubstantiate. Have a good rest of this thread, Gus. Peace