Through this gift of divine filiation, Christ completely destroyed the barriers that separate men from one other by bridging the distance between heaven and earth and between his creatures. God came so close to man as to become one of us. By taking on our nature, the Word joined human and divine in himself. Now, as St. Paul says, "there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor freeman, neither male nor female; you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal 3: 28). Now God is not distant; He is our Father. And neither are others remote from us; they are our brothers and sisters.