God, but father

We invoke God as Father, but perhaps without fully realizing what we are saying. God is truly the author of our life, everything originates from him. United with Jesus in baptism, we become born of God (Jn 1,12-13), a God who wants to place himself with me in a Father-son relationship because he loves me in a total, complete way.

But do we accept this relationship believe we are guided, loved, surrounded and protected by the loving presence of the Father, who only asks us to accept his gifts and his love for him?
/> We must try to relive the filial relationship of Jesus, whose life was a total dependence on the Father. Jesus insisted that the words he spoke were not of him but of the Father, like his doctrine, like his works (see for example John 8.26–29; John 5.30). Jesus always did what pleased the Father, doing the Father's will was his food and drink, his life. Calling God with the name of Father means telling him: I accept responsibly that my life is totally dependent on you, totally dependent; I call you Father because I want to be your son, live as you want.

Throughout the Gospel of John it is insisted on the fact that Jesus sets his life by looking at the Father.
We too must understand that being children is something that affects our entire life. Therefore praying by saying Father is not saying words, phrases, but it is a way of placing oneself in a filial relationship, it is a way of being, of placing oneself in a state of dependence created by love. And our filial relationship is unique, because everyone has their own way of being a child.

Teaching us to call God our Father, Jesus tells us: behave and live like children before the true Father, be and feel like children, have total trust, abandon yourselves, do not be afraid.


p. Mario Nascimbeni by Progetto (now NP) October 1992
NP February 2024