All similes limp, and those we use for God limp the most. God as "Father" is one of them.

The idea of fatherhood is a good one, but the reality we see on earth is sometimes quite different. Some fathers abandon their children, beat them, ridicule or ignore them, damage them psychologically for life. Even good fathers have their limits. They get tired, they must often go away, sometimes they are helpless and, finally, they die.

To some people, then, the idea of God as "Father" is barren. So, for that matter, may be the notion of "Mother." But Jesus chose Father as the best way he could describe God. What we have to do, obviously, is to keep in mind only the positive qualities of fatherhood and motherhood (God is not male, of course) and forget all human limitation.

God is a father/mother who wants children more eagerly than any earthly parents ever yearned to see their love made visible in a new person. All that we associate with parenthood is infinite in God: begetting, pouring out, sustaining and protecting, guiding, encouraging. God is gentleness and strength, patience and justice. He gives birth, nurses and carries, waits and explains, lets go and welcomes back, forgives and heals.

God is creator and redeemer, to use the heavy words of theology. But the best word is still Jesus' word: Abba, which seems to form naturally on the lips of babies.

Someone once said that if she could remember only one verse of the Bible on that mystical island of shipwreck, it should be this:

God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.
(1 John 4:16b)

The prophets often had to warn people of God's absolute incompatibility with evil: that the consequences of their sin would overtake them and, thus, God would "punish" them. But the last word always echoed a parent's forgiveness and endless welcome. Hosea says it well:

When Israel was a child I loved him,
out of Egypt I called my son.
The more I called them,
the farther they went from me….
Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
who took them in my arms;
I drew them with human cords,
with bands of love;
I fostered them like one
who raises an infant to his cheeks;
Yet, though I stooped to feed my child,
they did not know I was their healer.
(Hosea 11:1-2a, 3-4)

    —from Believing in Jesus: A Popular Overview of the Catholic Faith—Fourth Revised Edition

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Leonard Foley, O.F.M., was a popular retreat master and speaker at adult education programs. As editor of St. Anthony Messenger, he gave new direction to the magazine in the wake of Vatican II. He was the founding editor of Homily Helps and Weekday Homily Helps. He wrote, edited or contributed to 15 books for St. Anthony Messenger Press, and wrote many articles and homilies. The Catholic Updates and Youth Updates he wrote have sold millions of copies.

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