A mother and Father: Daily Mass Homily--Wednesday, March 18th, 2015

(Listen to this homily here).

            We hear about both a mother and a Father in our readings today.

            First, the last lines from the prophet Isaiah: “Can a mother forget her infant,

be without tenderness for the child of her womb?  Even should she forget, I will never forget you.”  The first thought I had when reading this passage came from a recent visit with my best friends.  Unfortunately, the kids were sick and Emily was holding her two-year old daughter.  Allie puked all over her…four times!  The whole time, Emily was comforting her and seemingly unconcerned about getting soaked in puke.  “Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb?  Even should she forget, I will never forget you.”

            Moving from a metaphor to reality, Jesus says in John 5: “My Father is at work until now, so I am at work.”  This may seem innocent enough to us, but remember what John added after this line: “For this reason they tried all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath but he also called God his own father, making himself equal to God.”  Jesus was killed because he called God Father.

            A big reason why we believe in God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit comes from John 5.  It is from passages like this we understand God as Father and Jesus as Son.  This means it is okay to call God Father and to understand God as such!

            The love of a mother and father to a child is said to be the greatest human love possible.  If this love is so great, try to imagine God’s love for His children.