When we call God "Our Father," we are necessarily reminded of the common kinship of all men. Our bodies are all made after one type, and that type is a reflection of the immaterial principle which dwells within. Hence the body of a man shares to some extent the dignity of his soul. We owe to our own bodies, and to those of all other men, a respect that is in no way owed to the bodies of the lower animals. Do I remember in all my actions the reverence due to my own body, and to the bodies of others, by reason of their being the noblest work of God in the material order, and being all destined by Him to immortal life?

But if our bodies have a certain dignity, our souls have one immeasurably greater. They are all stamped with a likeness to God that gives to each member of the human family a sort of God-like dignity. The soul of one little child is of more importance than all the souls of the lower animals together. If any word or act of mine is of a nature to injure the soul of any, even the lowest and humblest, I thereby provoke the anger of our common Father in Heaven. My brother's blood cries out to God for vengeance.

Our common brotherhood under God our Father also teaches us that God destines us to form one happy family in Heaven. He desires to see us united there before His throne, "a great multitude which no man can number, of all nations and tribes, and peoples and tongues" (Apoc. vii. 9). Do I bear in mind this exalted dignity to which God destines every one of His children on earth?