Day 33: God as Father

Jesus revealed that God is Father in an unheard-of sense: he is Father not only in being Creator; he is eternally Father by his relationship to his only Son who, reciprocally, is Son only in relation to his Father: "No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." CCC 240

In today's reading, the subject is God the Father, the First Person of the Most Holy Trinity. He is revealed by Jesus, the Son, as seen for instance in Matthew 11:27 quoted in the Catechism. Everything comes from God the Father: all of us and all of creation. It is from God the Father that the Son is "begotten, not made", as we profess in the Nicene Creed. When asked how to pray, Jesus gave us the Lord's Prayer as found in Matthew 6:9-13 & Luke 11:2-4. God of course is "neither male nor female" for He "transcends human gender", excepting the Incarnate Son. Yet it is God as "Father" that Jesus revealed to us, much to the chagrin of modern gender ideologues. As Father, God is the most perfect model for our earthly fathers and mothers. He loves us more than even they can. As the Catechism teaches us:

We ought therefore to recall that God transcends the human distinction between the sexes. He is neither man nor woman: he is God. He also transcends human fatherhood and motherhood, although he is their origin and standard: no one is father as God is Father. CCC 239

For the gender confusion we see in modern times, which has led to such division over basic biology, even though God has "both feminine and masculine attributes", as the Catechism Companion, Vol I puts it:

Because we have the Holy Spirit within us, we have a share in the divine nature. So we are able to call God our Father... Today, some find it confusing and objectionable to speak of God in masculine terms. Nonetheless, the fact remains that Jesus himself revealed God as Father and told his followers to pray to God - and have a relationship with him - as Father. (p. 70-71)

As the Eternal Father, every day is Father's Day for God!

Raphael's 1518 depiction of Prophet Ezekiel's vision of God the Father in glory