Posted by The WORD in other words (2018) by Fr Fred Saniel SVD – Divine Word Institute of Mission Studies, Tagaytay City
Thursday 11th Week in Ordinary Time
We call our parents not by their personal names but as Tatay, Itay, Daddy, Dad, Papa, Pa, Nanay, Inay, Mommy, Mom, Ma. Married couples call each other sweetheart, honey, dear. These are words of endearment for those we love intimately, expressing a deep relationship or connection between those concerned. The name, in whatever language is characterized by the sweetness of intimacy.
Jesus called God Abba, the Aramaic word for Father. It is a word of intimacy. When Jesus taught us to pray the Our Father, he was sharing to us not only what to pray for but also, and more importantly, how to pray in the manner that he himself prayed to God as Abba.
The entire Our Father is a prayer of intimacy – of being one with him in his kingdom, one with him on earth as in heaven. It is also a prayer that we may experience God’s intimacy with us – as he provides us our daily bread, as he forgives us our sins.
It is a prayer of intimacy that being one with him, we may also be one and intimate with others – of forgiving our offenders for the sins made against us and, most especially, in preserving such intimacy by sparing us from the final test and from the evil one.
Hence, if we forgive others their transgressions, God will forgive ours. But if we do not, neither the Father will forgive us ours. Intimacy with God breeds intimacy with others.
Abba (Father), may we be one with you always in loving intimacy, like your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
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