Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple Inc., knew from an early age that he was adopted. He had this vivid memory of sitting on the lawn of his house when he was 6 or 7 years old, telling the girl who lived across the street that he was adopted. But she asked him a disturbing question: “Does that mean that your first parents didn’t want you?” Steve went running into the house crying but his parents took him by the arms, looked him straight in the eye & said, “You have to understand. We CHOSE you. We picked YOU to be our child. For the rest of his life, Steve felt chosen & special because of what his parents said to him that day.
The Jewish people had a similar experience. God told Abraham that despite all the nations that existed in the world around them, they were to be his Chosen People. So some of the Jews who became Christian had a hard time accepting the fact that Gentiles wanted to be baptized as well. But they had to realize that God also chose them to be his adopted children as well.
Jesus says to us: “It was not you who chose me, it was I who chose you.” And St. Paul: “It’s not that we have loved God, but that God has loved us.” We are loved, we are chosen. We honor our mothers because they loved us first. This is what makes our joy complete.