9 August 2026

9 August 2026 - Our Father 2

Transcript

So this is the second part on The Our Father. We start with just those words: Our Father. Why do we say: Our Father and not Our Mother? Despite what some liberal fools think, we are not being sexist. First of all, that is what Jesus said we are to say – I’m not about to buck what Jesus told us to say. If it was good enough for him, it’s good enough for me. But, there is another reason for it than just the fact that Jesus said it.

Here is where you are going to have to put your thinking cap on. Ready? In relationship to God, all creation is feminine. … Let that sink in for a moment. When I first heard that, I intuitively knew it was correct, but I did not have a way to describe it. It took a couple of years for me to understand. Here’s the way it works:

All of us have received from God “that which creates life”: our souls. Between a husband and wife, the wife receives from the husband “that which creates life” and she nurtures it for nine months until the child is born. I do not need to be more specific. And that is why the vocation of motherhood is so precious. It reflects… all of creation. We all have received “that which creates life” in us from God. This is what makes all of creation feminine in comparison to God. So the beauty and glory and example of motherhood cannot be downplayed. It is the example of creation itself. And that is why we call God “Father!”

That should be enough for us to spend a long time reflecting on the genius of God. But there is so much more.

My second point comes from a story I heard from another priest. He was visiting some friends of his who were Jewish. They had a toddler son who wandered away from the dinner table. He turned around, saw all the strangers at the dinner table, and panicked. Then he saw his dad. He ran to him, crying out “Abba!” and put his head in his lap.

“Abba” is the same thing as us saying “Daddy,” but in Hebrew. This toddler knew there was safety in his father’s presence. Do we know the safety of our Heavenly Father’s embrace? How many of you have ever seen the little statue of a child leaning into a huge hand? That is a great representation of something that Isaiah said: “I have carved you on the palm of my hand!” In the same place, Isaiah says: “Can a mother forget her child? How can I forget you, Israel!” So, yes, God is Father and needs to be addressed as Father, even though he has qualities and capabilities of mother as well.

So in one sense God can be called father and mother. In another sense God cannot be called father or mother – He is so much more. And yet in another sense He is – as Jesus declared – Our Father. Are you confused yet? Let me say it very simply and straightforwardly once again: Jesus told us to call God Our Father. This is what He must remain in our thoughts.

I understand that there are many people who have not had great examples of a father they can look up to. In my estimation the destruction of the integral family in our society is nothing short of a diabolical attack on who God is. When you do not have a good father figure to look up to, it becomes difficult to see God as a Loving Father.

I was very blessed to have the father that I did. I have mentioned before his experience in prayer before the Tabernacle. It defined him in our family. But there is another line that I remember my dad saying in regard to my mom. I have said this before: “you may end up hating my guts, but by God you’re going to respect your mother!” What a statement of love for his wife! As I said last weekend in that letter to God, it was also in some ways to my dad when I said: “you raised me well, dad!” There are copies of the letter in the entrance of the church if you want one.

I also remember what a family friend who was a priest – God rest his soul – said to me just before I was ordained. He took me to lunch and told me something his mother had said to him before he was ordained. She said: “Paul, you’ll never be a good father unless you can be a good father.” And it works both ways!

See? This is what I meant when I said earlier that the destruction of the integral family is a diabolical attack on God as Father! Don’t you think that is also true about the scandals in the Church of the last couple decades?

I think it was Saint Teresa of Avila – or someone like her – who is credited as having said something like: I cannot get past the first two words of the Our Father. Just saying those two words is enough to draw me deeply into prayer.

It should not come as any surprise that the devil would want to destroy the image of God as Our Father. Likewise, to destroy or distort the image of mother.

But there is one more point I want to make. Jesus said that God was His Father. He tells us to call God Our Father. This is no small… distinction. It points to the fact that we have been adopted into the Trinity – into the relationship with the Trinity that is intended to last for eternity. To call God “Our Father” is more than just a classic prayer. It identifies… our identity!

I promise I will not be taking this much time on all the other parts of the Lord’s Prayer. But this is fundamental. It is our relationship with God. Jesus set it up this way on purpose. When his disciples asked how they were to pray, I like to imagine that Jesus was thrilled to be able to get his disciples to see the relationship they had to one another, to him, to His Father, to… Our Father. Amen. 

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