IMAGE: CNS/Alessandro Bianchi, Reuters
By Junno Arocho Esteves
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The
mystery of God’s relationship with humankind is revolutionary in that
Christians can look to him without fear as children to a loving father, Pope
Francis said.
In teaching the Lord’s
prayer, Jesus invites all Christians “to have the courage of calling God
with the name ‘father,'” the pope said June 7 at his weekly general
audience in St. Peter’s Square.
“This is the great
revolution that Christianity ingrains
into the religious psychology of man. The mystery of God who always fascinates
us and makes us feel small but no longer frightens us, he doesn’t crush us, he
doesn’t distress us,” the pope said.
With temperatures in Rome
hovering slightly above 80 degrees, the hot and humid weather did little to
keep the estimated 15,000 pilgrims from singing and waving as Pope Francis
greeted them on his popemobile.
The pope occasionally stopped
to kiss several babies whose heads were draped in cloth to protect them from
the sun.
In his talk, the pope reflected
on the theme of God’s fatherhood as a source of hope for Christians as conveyed
in the prayer of the “Our
Father.”
While some may be more
inclined to refer to God with a title that is “more respectful of his
transcendence,” he said, the word “father” implies a trustful
relationship “like a child to a father, knowing that we are loved and
cared for by him.”
Referring to the parable of
the prodigal son, the pope said God loves his children “not in a human way
because there is no
father in this world who would behave like the protagonist in this parable.”
“God is a father in his
own way: good, defenseless in the face of man’s free will, capable only of
conjugating the verb, ‘love,'” the pope said. “What an unfathomable
mystery is a God that nourishes this kind of love towards his children!”
It is for this reason, he
added, that St. Paul chose not to translate the word “father” into
Greek and instead uses the Aramaic word, “‘Abba,’ a term that is even more
intimate than ‘father’ and that someone may translate as ‘pop, dad.'”
The pope said that although
men and women “can be far away, hostile or even profess ourselves as being ‘without
God,'” God is never far from humankind.
“When we need help,
Jesus doesn’t tell us to give
up and close in on ourselves,
but rather to turn to the father and ask him with confidence,” he said.
Before concluding, Pope
Francis asked pilgrims to contemplate on the difficulties they face in their
lives before leading them in praying the “Our Father.”
“Let us think about
these problems and needs in silence. Let us also think about the father, our father,
who cannot be without
us and who is watching us at this moment,” he said.
Pope Francis also said he
would participate in the “One minute for peace” initiative June 8, a
moment of prayer starting
at 1 p.m. on the third anniversary of the prayer service held at the Vatican
with the late Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
“In our time, there is a
great need to pray — Christians, Jews and Muslims — for peace,” the pope
said.
– – –
Follow Arocho on Twitter:
@arochoju.
– – –
Copyright © 2017 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at cns@catholicnews.com.
