The only Son of the Father, who revealed the fatherhood of God and shared Him as our own Father, taught with authority that He should be addressed as Father in prayer: “So then, this is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.’” (Mt 6:9). Great attention should be paid as to why He warned that we should never call anyone who is here on earth “father”: “And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven” (Mt 23:9). As children of the heavenly Father, we not only need to embrace the entire human race as siblings, but also have a great duty of adopting our heavenly Father’s standard of justice and mercy, that is far more superior to that of this world: “so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Mt 5:45). Generosity and magnanimity that are shown to human beings in an unimaginable way, have to be the true norm for anyone who believes that God is the only Father, who is more pleased when we imitate Him as His dear children.

Abba, thank You for being our dearest Father, and setting the greatest example of love and kindness, to be enjoyed and imitated. Let Your Spirit inscribe this character into our very nature, in Jesus’ Most Loving Name, Amen.