Pope: God is like a mother who never ceases to love her child

Like the parable of the prodigal son, God is "a father who makes us understand just how much he has missed us". And even if we have wandered far "we find the strength to pray" by starting again "from the word" Abba, Father "," with the tender sense of a child ". Next Friday the Week for Christian Unity begins. "Ecumenism is not something optional".

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - "God is like a mother who never ceases to love her child", whatever the behavior, He is like the father in the parable of the prodigal son, "a father who does not remember the offensive words said against him, a father tells his son right away how much he has been missed."

The profound meaning of the word "Abba", Father, was at the center of the catechesis for today's general audience, which was also an opportunity to recall the beginning of the Week for Christian Unity next Friday.  This year the theme is: "Try to be truly just".

"Also this yearwe are called to pray, so that all Christians may return to be one family, consistent with the divine will that wants" that all may be one "(Jn 17:21). Ecumenism is not optional. The intention will be to develop a common and consistent witness in the affirmation of true justice and in the support of the weakest, through concrete, appropriate and effective responses ".

The Week was also remembered by the Pope in greetings to the various linguistic groups. In particular, he recommended to the Portuguese: "let us intensify our supplications and penances, so that we may hasten the hour in which the yearning for Jesus is fulfilled:" Abbá ..., ut unum sint - so that all may be one!"".

Previously, in his address to the eight thousand people present in the Paul VI hall, he had stressed that in Paul's letters "he returns twice the same invocation", Abba, "in which all the newness of the Gospel is condensed. After having known Jesus and listening to his preaching, the Christian no longer considers God as a tyrant to be feared, he no longer fears but he feels his trust in him flourish: he can speak with the Creator calling him 'Father'. The expression is so important for Christians that it is often kept intact in its original form: 'Abbà'.

God, he said, "will not close in silence: you say to him 'Father' and He will answer you. You have a father. 'Yes, but I am a delinquent ...': but you have a father who loves you! Tell him 'Father', begin to pray like that and in silence He will tell us that He never lost sight of us. 'But, Lord, I have done this, Father, I have done this ...' - 'I have never lost sight of you: I have seen everything. But I was always there, close to you, faithful to my love for you. That will be the answer. Never forget to say 'Father'".

"It is rare that in the New Testament Aramaic expressions are not translated into Greek. We must imagine that in these Aramaic words the voice of Jesus himself remained as if "recorded". In the first word of the 'Our Father' we immediately find the radical novelty of Christian prayer. It is not just a question of using a symbol - the figure of the father - to be linked to the mystery of God; instead it is about having, so to speak, the whole world of Jesus poured into one's heart. If we carry out this operation, we can truly pray the 'Our Father'. Saying 'Abba' is something much more intimate and moving than simply calling God 'Father'. That's why someone proposed to translate the original word with 'Daddy' or 'Dad'. In fact, these expressions evoke affection, warmth, something that projects us in the context of childhood: the image of a child completely enveloped by the embrace of a father who feels infinite tenderness for him ". "For this reason, dear brothers and sisters, to pray well, one must have a child's heart. To pray well. Like a child in the arms of his father, his Daddy, his Dad".

Looking at the figure of the father of the parable, at his embrace with the returned son, "we ask ourselves: is it possible that You, or God, only know love? Where is revenge in you, the claim of justice, the anger for your wounded honor? The father of that parable has in his ways of doing something that is very reminiscent of a mother's soul. It is especially the mothers who forgive their children, not to interrupt the empathy towards them, to continue to love, even when they no longer deserve anything".

"God is looking for you, even if you do not seek it. God loves you, even if you have forgotten Him. God sees beauty in you, even if you think you have squandered all your talents in vain. God is like a mother who never ceases to love her child. On the other hand, there is a "gestation" that lasts forever, well beyond the nine months of the physical one, and which generates an infinite circuit of love. For a Christian, to pray is to simply say 'Abbà'. It may be that we too happen to walk on paths far from God, as happened to the prodigal son; or to fall into a loneliness that makes us feel abandoned in the world; or, again, to be wrong and to be paralyzed by a sense of guilt. In those difficult moments, we can still find the strength to pray, starting from the word 'Abbà'. He will not hide his face from us; He will not shut himself up in silence: he will tell us that he never lost sight of us, and that he was always there, faithful to His love for us ".