Father

Father ... In this word is expressed and summed up my relationship with God.
Just as my relationship with my earthly father evolves, so does my relationship with God. It has its ups and downs, and it is okay, because it means that it is alive and dynamic. It is a work-in-progress.
But one thing is sure and unchanging. God and I, we have a deep connection. Nay, it is a vital connection. Yes, this one is unchanging. To deny this is to deny a basic truth about myself.
In God I live, I breathe, I move, I have my being. And knowing this makes a lot of difference in the way I live my life.

Our Father

This is a rephrase of something Cassian, an early church father, wrote: In the Our Father Jesus gives us a model of prayer and a way of life.

Honor your father and your mother

To honor our father and our mother is to love them. We don’t love people because they deserve to be loved. That is not love. That is barter.

To love people because they love us is not love. That is negotiation.

Love is a higher calling. It doesn’t depend on a person’s worthiness or on our feelings. Jesus tells us the real measure of love: our Father in heaven who lets the his sun rise on both the good and the bad alike. Can anybody beat that? I don’t think so, but that is the standard. So when our love is selective, perhaps we shouldn’t call it love.

To love our father and mother is to reconcile ourselves to our personal history and to the imperfections of life.

It isn’t easy. Who says it is? But it is the only way to find peace, healing, a way to move forward in life.

Pray

To pray is to listen to God. To listen requires time and attention. To listen is some sort of a pre-commandment. In fact, it is a prelude to the ten commandments: "Listen, Israel!"
I remember that I once heard a young father say "in my house everybody talks, nobody listens."
What a pity it is when we only talk and we don't know how to listen! It is listening that transforms talking into conversation.
In today's Gospel (Luke 5:12-16), we hear about Jesus' growing popularity, how many people were listening to Him and wanting to be healed. But in all these, Jesus goes off in deserted places to pray.
Prayer is a great equalizer. It enables us to take a reality check.
Prayer makes us realize that our accomplishments are good but they are not forever.
Prayer makes us remember that our difficulties and sufferings may be great but they are not forever.
Prayer helps us to understand that neither our accomplishments nor our sufferings defines who we are.
Prayer reminds us that, first and foremost, we are beloved children of a Good Father.

Father

The most daring thing we can ever do is to call God "Father". But I bet God is very happy when we dare to do so.