Knowing God as Father | Getting to Know God, Part 1

In this first meditation of our three-part series on St. Josemaria's homily Getting to Know God, Msgr. Fred Dolan invites us to rediscover the foundational truth of the Christian life, that we are beloved children of God. As St. Josemaria reminds us, “We are children of God and we can talk things over with him and spend time with him, just as trustingly as a son does with his father” (Friends of God, no. 145). 

Msgr. Dolan invites us to pray with the simplicity of spiritual childhood, entrust our worries to the Father, and rediscover the peace that comes from living as his beloved sons and daughters. 

Listen and reflect on: 

• Becoming like little children before God 
• The Father's faithful love 
• Trust over anxiety 
• Prayer rooted in confidence 
• Remembering who we are in Christ 

 Read the full text of St. Josemaria’s homily, “Getting to Know God”, online here. 

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Transcript

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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me. I adore you with profound reverence. I ask your pardon for my sins, and the grace to make this time of prayer fruitful. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my Father and Lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me. Saint Josemaria begins his homily getting to know God with a charming personal account. He recalls that the previous night he had awakened several times, and had repeated as an aspiration some words from sacred scripture quasi modo geniti infantes, which means as newborn babes. That phrase struck him as a perfect image for our condition as children of God, our divine filiation. As he put it, it is certainly right that we strive to be strong, solid men and women of metal, who can positively influence our environment. And yet, before God, how good it is to see ourselves as little children. Saint Osamaria invites us to become like newborn infants before God. Saint Teresa of Avola beautifully explains what this means by comparing the soul to a baby at its mother's breast. The child does not earn its nourishment, nor does it even know how to ask for it. The mother lovingly provides everything. And as Teresa notes, an infant does not anxiously wonder whether its mother will feed it the following day. So too in prayer, our first task is not to accomplish something, but simply to remain with God, confident that our Father already knows what we need. We are called to receive His grace, to drink the milk of the Spirit, and to enjoy its sweetness. That phrase that moved Saint Josemaria so much continues Quasi modo geniti infantes ratiolo lac concupicite. Like children just born into the world, cry out for the clean, pure milk of the Spirit. Let us meditate today on the certainty that we are children of God, and on the consequences this has for our daily lives. Saint Josemaria shared from his own deep interior life. My life has led me to realize in a special way that I am a son of God. I have experienced the joy of getting inside the heart of my Father. To enter the heart of our Father God. Our own hearts skip a beat at the thought of such a wonderful reality. No wonder Saint Osemaria speaks of the joy of climbing inside God's heart. We can make this our own prayer right now. Lord, I have to tell you what is going on in my heart right now. Otherwise, I will burst. I just love being your child. I just love knowing that I am loved. In no way will I ever doubt your love. Just as a little child does not calculate whether he deserves his father's love. From within God's heart we can borrow his fatherly glasses, so to speak, and see those around us differently. This is the interior life. To enter the Father's heart and remain there. We then begin to love what he loves, rejoice in what pleases him, grieve over what wounds him, and look upon others with his patience. But we know from experience that this is not easy. Saint Josemaria warns us. This is why I want to insist now that you and I need to be made anew, to wake up from the slumber of feebleness by which we are so easily lulled, and to become aware once again, in a deeper, more immediate way, of our condition as children of God, how easily we forget who we are. We begin to live as though everything depended entirely upon us, becoming anxious, self-reliant, and burdened. That is the existential slumber from which Saint Josemaria wants to awaken us, not merely physical inactivity, but a forgetfulness of our Father's love. Laziness, softness, and a false love of comfort threaten our pursuit of sanctity. Let us resolve today to shake off this spiritual slumber and awaken to our identity as God's children. We often begin the prayers of the faithful at Mass with this petition, with the confidence of our divine filiation. This confidence is meant to sustain us, in spite of our defects and limitations. As Saint John tells us, see how God has shown his love towards us, that we should be counted as his sons, should be his sons. Beloved, we are sons of God even now. This is not a pious metaphor. It is the fundamental reality from which the whole Christian life flows. Saint Josemaria reflected, Over the years I have sought to rely unfalteringly for my support on this joyous reality. I have said to him, Lord, you put me here. You entrusted me with this or that, and I put my trust in you. I know that you are my father, and I have seen that tiny children are always absolutely sure of their parents. Such trust transforms our prayer. Instead of trying to persuade God, we begin to rest in Him. Instead of carrying every burden ourselves, we place it squarely in the hands of our Father. After all, children ask for seemingly impossible things simply because they know they are speaking to their Father. What confidence, what rest, and what optimism it will give you in the midst of difficulties, to know you are a child, the child of a Father who knows everything and who can do everything. When we pray as children, our will becomes identified with the will of our Father, who always wants the best for us. This trust dissipates the anxiety that comes from depending solely on our own strength. As the founder wrote in The Way, draw strength from your divine filiation. God is a Father, your Father, full of warmth and infinite love. Call him Father frequently throughout the day. Tell him when you are alone, that you love him, and that you feel proud and strong because you are his child. Quasi modo geniti infantes, like newborn babes. This attitude of spiritual childhood enables us to savor those other words from Saint John All that is born of God overcomes the world. It conquers difficulties and achieves victory in the great battle for peace in our souls and in society. Our wisdom and our strength lie precisely in being convinced of our littleness in the eyes of God. Yet at the same moment, He prompts us to get moving, to confidently proclaim His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. He calls us to action despite our errors and miseries, provided that we are actively fighting to overcome our weakness. Let us begin with ourselves. Striving to discover the good we can do for our families, our friends, and everyone we meet. There is no better way to contemplate the greatness of God than to start from this simple, inexpressible fact. He is our Father, and we are His children. Today, perhaps the Lord is asking only one thing of us. Call him Father. Say it slowly, say it often. Let those words sink from your lips into your heart. The child who knows he has a father is never truly alone, never without hope, never without strength. Everything changes once we remember whose children we are. I thank you, my God, for the good resolutions, affections, and inspirations that you have communicated to me in this meditation. I ask your help in putting them into effect. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my Father and Lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me. In the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. God bless you.