Daily Reflections

October 30, 2011
“OUR FATHER” AND “FATHER”

Today’s Gospel has been misunderstood by many who take every word and sentence in the Bible literally. For example, since Jesus said, “You must call no one on earth your father, since you have only one Father, and he is in heaven,” some claim that priests should not be called “Father.”
As usual, Jesus teaches in a typical Jewish way, exaggerating a point to get the message through to His audience. What He wants to say is that God is our real Father, more powerful, more loving, more caring, more compassionate than our earthly fathers can ever be. Ultimately, it is from this heavenly Father that we receive our life and everything we have and are.
In a way, Jesus points back to the Ten Commandments where the first commandment stresses God’s uniqueness and superiority, while it is only in the fourth commandment that we are told to honor our father and mother.
We have to get our priorities right and never ever put anything or anybody before God whom we are called to love with all our heart, mind and soul. God must remain the center of our lives — something we easily forget. Of course, it is easier to focus on and love our physical parents whom we see, hear and with whom we live since our birth. After all, we have not seen our heavenly Father; we have not heard directly His voice; we know Him only through the words of Jesus which we find in the Bible. Even though we pray countless times, “Our Father in Heaven,” it often is just a formula we recite without thinking what it actually means. Too often we pray, “Our Father in Heaven,” but do not behave like His children.
And yet, this heavenly Father is our origin and destination. From Him we come, to Him we go. Our physical fathers will probably not be with us until the end of our life. But our heavenly Father remains with us and will be with us for all eternity. Isn’t that reason enough to honor and love our heavenly Father more? Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD

Reflection Question:
Do I have a devotion to God the Father? Who is God the Father to me?

Lord, thank You for directing my attention more on Your and our Father in Heaven. I pray to You, to Mary and to the saints but forget to pray to God the Father. Even during Mass, I pray to You and do not realize that practically all prayers are addressed to Your Father. Thank You for the reminder.

St. Herbert, pray for us.