“I am coming to proclaim Myself the Father of all and the most tender of fathers, in order to transform your love, which has become distorted by fear.” (Message from God the Father to Sister Eugenia Ravasio).
Our love for our heavenly Father should come from a free and trusting heart. Perhaps in the past, the preaching in our church sometimes placed too much emphasis on the consequences of a sinful life. This can allow fear to take root in our relationship with God, making it difficult to see God’s true image and even distorting it. The Little Book of the Father repeatedly references this, as does today’s text. The sentence above is immediately preceded by the Father’s emphasis that missionaries speak of God as far as they know Him, and adds: “But I assure you, you do not know Me as I am.”
Thus, we learn one reason why God the Father spoke to us through Mother Eugenia. God comes to reveal Himself as the Father of all people, the most tender of fathers.
With this assurance, we are invited to let go of all false images of a “terribly just God.” In their place, we are given the image of a loving God for whom nothing is more important than living in unity with us and showering us with His love. A Father who seeks us out and assures us of His love in every way possible.
We are to recognize and proclaim this Father. Certainly, this does not mean that the horror of sin and its destructive effects are no longer taken seriously, or even trivialized. Rather, it means that our loving Father does everything to rescue us from all hopelessness. We are to understand: A loving Father wants us to respond to His love without fear!
This is our Father!