In the Great Commission, Jesus instructed His disciples to preach the Gospel to all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. But have you ever wondered why we call God our Father? Why the familial language for the all-powerful being who created heaven and earth?
Monsignor Stuart Swetland discussed this recently on Go Ask Your Father™, asking, “Do you refer to God as Father? The Catechism makes clear that is the title that God has revealed to us. Indeed, a special title that we would not have known of, if it had not been revealed.”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us:
We can invoke God as ‘Father’ because he is revealed to us by his Son become man and because his Spirit makes him known to us. The personal relation of the Son to the Father is something that man cannot conceive of nor the angelic powers even dimly see. And yet, the Spirit of the Son grants a participation in that very relation to us who believe that Jesus is the Christ and that we are born of God.
“In other words, God is Father,” Msgr. Swetland explained. “That is revealed to us. And what is more, He makes us His children. Sons and daughters in the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Just as God is relational, so we humans are as well. And we were made not only to have relationships with each other, but to have a relationship with the Lord as well.
Msgr. Swetland said, “Our faith is about living out the relationships we were made for. You and I were made for relationship, for communion, for community, for living in a love affair with God and with all others in God. God wants us to have a loving relationship with all the angels. God wants us to have a loving relationship with all other human persons.”
“But what is most amazing is God, the Creator of everything, that holds everything in being, wants an intimate, a personal, a passionate relationship with each and every one of us. God wants a relationship with you.”
Listen to the full reflection below:
Go Ask Your Father airs weekdays at 1:00 p.m. Eastern/10:00 a.m. Pacific on Relevant Radio® and the Relevant Radio App.
