“GOD IS FATHER, MOTHER, ALL”

Reflection about Isa 49:14-16; Mt 6:24-34

         “On his way to take care of us, God is more mother than father.” These words were spoken by the Holy Father John Paul I and show a different perspective about God, according to the first text our reflection (Isa 49:14-16). God is as a tender and attentive mother. He cannot forsake us because we are his beloved children and our lives are very precious to him. He wants that we may experience his motherly love and put ourselves in his hands with great confidence. St. John Calabria used to say, “The Providence is a tender mother who provides everything for our good. Let us feel curried in her motherly hands.” Whoever lives such a faith can go forward proclaiming the Kingdom of God as priority in his own life.

        Those who decided to follow Jesus must organise their lives according to the new reality they have assumed. It is not possible to serve two masters. Serving God is more important than everything else. So, after they having found in Christ the reason of their existence, money and other possessions do not have more the same meaning for them as it did before this decision. It was so at the beginning of the call, i.e. Jesus called them; they left everything... However, we know that during the journey, sometimes they were worried about tomorrow, for example, when Peter said to him, “Look, we have left everything and followed you. What will we have?” (Mt 19:27). Jesus perceived their concerns and assured a new life that includes all what they left, in a different and new way, together with the surrender of their lives for his sake. According to St. Augustine, “Peter gave up the whole world and found the whole world. They were like those who do not have anything; then, they have everything.”

        The centrality of the teaching of Jesus, in this text, is the God’s care for his servants. He is a good Father who knows the needs of His children and helps them much more than he does for the birds and flowers of the field. Therefore, Jesus invited his disciples to open their eyes and look around. In everything, there is a sign of the love of the Father, who occupies himself even the smallest things. He guides all according to his plan of wisdom and goodness. There is no matter out of his look of love. Thus, we are invited to consider that we are in his hands, which are good ones. The Scriptures testify, “Until now the Lord has helped us”; and “Has anyone hoped in the Lord and been disappointed?” These evidences invite us “To look back and see how God cared us and so we can see what he is doing for us now. So, we can look forward with hope and faith that God will deal with us as he has done so”, because this is his own way of acting.

        Jesus is not denying that some things are important in life. However, he knows that when a person live with anxiety and exaggerated worries in relating to material things, has difficulty to pay attention to what is essential. If God the Father knows that we need all these things and is ready to help us, we are invited to surrender ourselves his hands with great confidence, using our efforts to build a better world every day. A saint said: “Let us do what we must do as if everything depended on us, trusting in God as if everything depended on God.” St. John Calabria lived this reality with conviction and passion. His “Discovery of the gospel” was the discovery of the fatherhood of God. For John Calabria, God is Father and Provider always though we have not behaved always as children. John Calabria took the words of the verse 23 as a plan of life for him and for his Spiritual Family, that is, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you.” For John Calabria this is the precise way to answer to God, who loves and protects his children without forgetting any of them. Therefore, if it is the search of his kingdom, which guides our entire existence, “all problems should be considered and studied in harmony with his paternity.”

        So, God loves us, he knows us and cares for us. Because of his loving care, he has shared his gift to us, expecting that we might do the same for the good of others in order the brotherhood among us may reflect his paternity. So, we are invited to revise our history of life and recognise that we have received so much from his goodness. Although we do not always receive what we have begged to him, we can be sure that he has given us always what we need really. So, let us renew our faith in his providence because he is FATHER, MOTHER, ALL and does not abandon those who trust in Him.

Fr Ndega