Why is it that we invoke God as ‘Our’ Father? What does the word ‘Our’ entail? When we say those two words, ‘Our Father’, there are two relationships we are denoting. Before he became Pope, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger summed up both relationships when he wrote, ‘The fatherhood of God gives Christian brotherhood its firm foundation.’[i] The first relationship is that we are brothers and sisters. This is expressed in the word ‘Our’. The second, expressed in ‘Father’, is that we are sons and daughters. In Baptism, we enter into this life of the Blessed Trinity. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, ‘There is only one God, and he is recognized as Father by those who, through faith in his only Son, are reborn of him by water and spirit.’[ii] By the power of the Holy Spirit and through Baptism, we are reborn as brother and sisters to Jesus and sons and daughters to the Father.
The rest of this online article is available for current Guild members.
This article is from The Sower and may be copied for catechetical purposes only. It may not be reprinted in another published work without the permission of Maryvale Institute. Contact [email protected]
