Father Shelton: The Holy Father on Divine Fatherhood

What is a father? The increasing popular acceptance of fornication (what secularists call ?pre-marital sex?), divorce and the cultural neutering of men has created confusion about the identity of fathers as a special gift from God. At his General Audience this week, Pope Benedict suggested that, ?Perhaps modern man does not perceive the beauty, grandeur and profound consolation contained in the word ?father? with which we can turn to God in prayer, because the father figure is often not sufficiently present in today?s world, and is often not a sufficiently positive presence in everyday life??
We need a more complete understanding of the unique and necessary place of fathers in the family and, indeed, in society, if we are to appreciate Christ?s revelation to us of our adopted Father in Heaven. Then, turning to our Heavenly Father precisely as a father, we will be better prepared to live in the paternal love he offers. When we understand fatherhood, we are able to enter into the prayerful relationship with God, praying, ?Our Father, who art in Heaven?. In such prayer, the Father consoles us and strengthens us for our life-long journey to him. Pope Benedict assured his audience that, ?When we turn to our Father in the privacy of our rooms, in silence and recollection, we are never alone??
But while the Father adopts each of us into a prayerful relationship with him, he does so in order to place us within the greater family of the Blessed Trinity. Noting this, Pope Benedict concluded, ?Paul teaches us that Christian prayer is not simply our own work, but primarily that of the Spirit, who cries out in us and with us to the Father. In our prayer, we enter into the love of the indwelling Trinity as living members of Christ?s Body, the Church. Our individual prayer is always part of the great symphony of the Church?s prayer. Let us open our hearts ever more fully to the working of the Spirit within us, so that our prayer may lead us to greater trust in the Father and conformity to Jesus, his Son.?

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