583. How is it possible to address God as “Father”? (part 2 continuation)
(Comp 583 repetition) We can invoke the
“Father” because the Son of God made man has revealed him to us and because his
Spirit makes him known to us. The invocation, Father, lets us enter into his
mystery with an ever new sense of wonder and awakens in us the desire to act as
his children. When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we are therefore aware of our
being sons of the Father in the Son.
“In brief”
(CCC 2799) The Lord's Prayer brings us into communion with
the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. At the same time it reveals us to
ourselves (cf. GS 22 § 1).
To deepen and explain
(CCC 2781) When we pray to the Father, we are in communion with him and with his Son,
Jesus Christ (Cf. 1 Jn 1:3). Then we know and recognize him with an ever new
sense of wonder. The first phrase of the Our Father is a blessing of adoration
before it is a supplication. For it is the glory of God that we should
recognize him as "Father," the true God. We give him thanks for
having revealed his name to us, for the gift of believing in it, and for the
indwelling of his Presence in us.
Reflection
(CCC 2782) We can adore the Father because he has caused us
to be reborn to his life by adopting
us as his children in his only Son: by Baptism, he incorporates us into the
Body of his Christ; through the anointing of his Spirit who flows from the head
to the members, he makes us other "Christs." God, indeed, who has
predestined us to adoption as his sons, has conformed us to the glorious Body
of Christ. So then you who have become sharers in Christ are appropriately
called "Christs" (St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech. myst. 3, 1: PG 33, 1088A). The new man, reborn and restored
to his God by grace, says first of all, "Father!" because he has now
begun to be a son (St. Cyprian, De Dom.
orat. 9: PL 4, 525A). [IT CONTINUES]
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