QUIT THE PIG-SLOP, GO FOR THE ROASTED CALF! (1st Sunday of Lent)

OUR FATHER…

How wonderfully clear, how new this age-old attribute God himself wants us to use for him sounds, how refreshing, how transforming!

He doesn’t want to be regarded by us as some Automated Teller Machine of heaven, ready to churn out goodies at every push of the button. He is not the God who watches over us from some distant abode way up in the clouds. He is Our Father! And being our father, he is far greater than all the marvelous and insanely generous philanthropists combined, far more generous than the most generous of benefactors, far more loving than the most passionate of lovers, far more powerful an ally than the most powerful of this earth’s potentates.

We need not bribe nor cajole him into giving in to our petty concerns and wants. We don’t have to act like some hungry dogs at the table of the master. We need not be jealous of one another, always competing for the Lord’s attention as if it means anything sensible to him nor to any of us at all. In Jesus Christ, God revealed to us the secret of heaven. And this is none other than the realization that we are God’s beloved children. Heaven is simply living in the fatherly embrace of God. Heaven is being into a loving relationship with the father. Heaven is knowing, experiencing and enjoying that we are truly God’s children in every sense of the word.

To have God as our father is to not be afraid to be thoroughly known by him. To have God as our father means that we are always being taken care of; that we need not be terrified to make those clumsy, little baby steps in life knowing full well that for our every tiny stride loom those enormous ones by this loving father who goes ahead of us every step of the way.

To have God as our father is to be not too consumed with not knowing where to find food for the next day. To have him as our father is to not be afraid to stand up after each fall. It means not being hesitant in freely loving others as a sister or brother. To have him as our father is to always be comforted with the assurance that we are immensely loved no matter the gravity of our greatest sins nor the depth of our stupidity and selfish pursuits. To have him as our father is to be not afraid to say sorry for our sins knowing that he has already forgiven us a hundred times over before we even make the first move.

TO HAVE GOD AS OUR FATHER IS TO HEAR HIS INVITATION FOR US TO STOP HELPING OURSELVES FROM THE PIG-SLOP AND START RUNNING TOWARDS HIS WELL-LIT HOME; THERE WHERE A ROASTED, FATTENED CALF AND A GOLDEN RING AWAIT US.

To have God as our father is to be in need of nothing else…He being completely, totally ours, and we being completely, totally his as well.This is the reality we ought to be thankful for. This is the resounding victory that Christ Our Lord has thrice declared over Satan in the wilderness. This is Jesus' gift for us at the beginning of our Lenten journey!