You will be My people and I will be your God

Welcome to God the Father Calls. Please feel free to explore all the pages and links provided, for more information about our Heavenly Father.

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“The Divine Teacher invites us to recognize first of all the primacy of God the Father. Wherever He is absent, nothing can be good: He is a crucial priority for all things. Kingdom of Heaven means, in fact, lordship of God and this means that His Will must be adopted as the guiding criterion of our existence” (Benedict XVI, General Audience, 7/17/11).  The aforementioned statement by Benedict XVI serves as a beacon of light about the priority of our relationship with God our Father. The purpose of this site is to provide content and inspiration for the journey into our Eternal Father’s Heart.


by srmargaretmary on November 12, 2011  •  Permalink
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Posted by srmargaretmary on November 12, 2011

http://godthefathercalls.wordpress.com/2011/11/12/resource-material-for-god-the-father-calls-website/

2000 and beyond – 5

Continuing on the subject of Blessed John Paul’s preparation plans for the New Millennium ~ particularly the year 1999 dedicated to God the Father - it becomes apparent that he is bringing us to the very heart of Divine Revelation: The intimate relationship of love and self-giving within the Most Holy Trinity.

In his work Against Heresies, St. Irenaeus alludes to Jesus and the Holy Spirit as being the two “hands” of the Father. And the good news of the the New Testament is precisely that, as such, the Father draws us to to Himself.

“In following Christ and belonging to him, Christians are engendered as children of the Father, and become, like him, ‘perfect as their Heavenly Father is perfect’ (Mt 5:48). Only in following the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, which brings them to imitate the Father and the Son in their mutual donation, and being drawn into that very donation, can Christians be truly faithful to their vocation” (O’Callaghan, P. 1996. In praise of His glory: the Fatherhood of God, Christ’s own perspective. In Preparing for the Year 2000).

And so, the Great Circle of Love takes place over and over again, with each one of God’s children. We come forth from the Father and return to Him through Baptism, by becoming one with Jesus Christ, through the presence of the Holy Spirit. However, it this mystery is not just a spatial event, but a participation in the very intimate Family life within the heart of the Holy Trinity. To embrace this truth, and align our lives in accord with this Trinitarian invitation, is to keep alive the hopes and graces reserved for us in the New Millennium.

by srmargaretmary on June 2, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in God the Father, Jesus Christ, John Paul II, Salvation History, The Holy Trinity
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Posted by srmargaretmary on June 2, 2012

http://godthefathercalls.wordpress.com/2012/06/02/2000-and-beyond-5/

2000 and beyond – 4

God the Father of Jesus Christ

“This eternal, founding and essential Fatherhood of God is revealed in the words, gestures, life and very existence of Jesus Christ, the Son made man. The heart of the message of the New Testament does not lie in this or that aspect of a divine paternal ‘attitude’ towards humanity, but the person of the Son, whose filial being is totally received and commensurate to that of his Father. God is Father not just because He acts paternally, but because He (eternally) has a Son. Paternity and filiation belong to the very heart of divine life, and as such are by no means secondary, developed or metaphorical designations. From that paternity, ‘all family (patria: social unit having common ancestry), whether spiritual or natural. takes its name’ (Eph 3:15), all fatherhood…all fraternity.’”

“The Gospel message centered on the person of Christ and thus, inextricably, on that of the Father, is expressed principally in John’s Gospel and in the Pauline Epistles. Jesus considers and defines himself not in terms of himself and his message, but exclusively in relation to the Father: he exists and acts as subsistent relation to the Father. His consciousness, mission and very existence is essentially dialogical, filial. When he addresses God, he calls Him Father, Abba, that is ‘Papa.’ He must be ‘busy about his Father’s affairs’ (Lk 2:49). The Jews were in fact scandalized by his unheard-of daring in considering God in this way (cf. Jn 8:31-59). This was a new departure: a mere man claimed to have overcome the enormous gulf that separates the human and divine” (ibid.).

by srmargaretmary on May 27, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by srmargaretmary on May 27, 2012

http://godthefathercalls.wordpress.com/2012/05/27/2000-and-beyond-4/

2000 and beyond – 3

The first words of Jesus recorded in the New Testament were said to Mary and Joseph, after they found Him in the Temple conversing with the EldersL “Why were you searching for Me? Did you not know that I must be in My Father’s house?” (Lk 2:49). His last words were: “Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit” (Lk 23:46). The whole of the New Testament is a revelation of the Father by His Son, Jesus Christ, through His words and actions. But, over and above that, we must understand the importance and centrality of the Son’s relationship with the Father.

THE FATHER REVEALED IN ESSENCE

“Certainly the paternal goodness of God reaches each and every human being…(cf. Mt 5:45; Lk 6:35). His mercy is abundant and universal (cf. Mt 6:14-15; Lk 11:4), especially toward the afflicted and lost… His paternal solicitude is boundless (cf. Lk 12:16-32; Mt 6:25-33), hence His children should live in peace and joy (cf. Mt 6:8; Lk 10:41, 12-24, 30). The abundance of divine paternal benevolence encourages His children to live as the Father lives: “to be perfect as the Heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48), accomplishing His will (cf. 7: 21-27) in all sincerity (cf. Mt 6:1-6, 16-18), imitating His goodness and mercy (cf. Mt 5:7, Lk 6:36), pardoning others their faults (cf Mt 5:23), promoting a civilization of reconciliation and love” (cf Mt 5:44; Lk 6:35; O’Callaghan, P. 1996. In praise of His glory: The Fatherhood of God, Christ’s own perspective. In Preparing for the Year 2000).

“But the radical quality of the New Testament’s turnabout as regards the paternity of God, is not to be found, as it were, in mere reinforcement of the fatherly traits of the divinity. God is not considered as a Father in the New Testament simply because He acts in an evermore paternal way towards creatures, developing His qualities of fatherhood more or less in the same way humans do… The point is that God, in His most inner essence, is and always was Father, insofar as He is and always engendered a Son” (ibid.).

by srmargaretmary on May 24, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by srmargaretmary on May 24, 2012

http://godthefathercalls.wordpress.com/2012/05/24/2000-3/

2000 and beyond – 2

“The range of challenges selected by the Holy Father [JP II] for the third and final year of preparation for the Jubilee Year 2000, dedicated to God the Father (TMA, 49-54) is surprisingly wide: from the need to personal conversion and a deepened appreciation of the natural moral law and the Sacrament of Penance, to the everyday demands of the theological virtue of Charity with God and neighbor; from a renewed insistance on the Church’s preferential option for the poor and marginalized, to the reduction or perhaps elimination of international debts which shackle the peaceful growth of many nations; from the promotion of dialogue and of the rights of women, to the support of the family and marriage, from the fostering of a “civilization of love” in the context of the predominance of ‘Western’ secularist values, to the dialogue with the great world religions, particularly Judaism and Islam.”

“All these challenges are taken as expressions of Christian life as ‘a great pilgrimage to the House of the Father whose unconditional love for every human creature we discover anew each day.’ (TMA 49). In fact, this unifying  perspective of the Fatherhood of God, of His unconditional love for humanity is the perspective of Christ Himself, the perspective of a Son whose entire existence and pilgrimage is contained and defined totally within the coordinates of filiation and paternity. ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’…’Then Simon Peter spoke up: ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16:13-16; O’Callaghan, P. 1996. In praise of His glory: the Fatherhood of God, Christ’s own perspective. In Preparing for the Year 2000).

by srmargaretmary on May 22, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in God the Father, Jesus Christ, John Paul II, The Holy Trinity
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Posted by srmargaretmary on May 22, 2012

http://godthefathercalls.wordpress.com/2012/05/22/2000-and-beyond-2/

2000 and beyond – 1

To help the People of God prepare for the great Jubilee of 2000, Bl. John Paul II gave us the encyclical As the Third Millennium Draws Near (Nov. 10, 1994). In it he dedicated the years 1997 to 1999 to the three Persons of the Holy Trinity, reserving the last year for God the Father.

Eighteen years have elapsed since this encyclical was penned and perhaps each one of us, looking within our own hearts, feels a disconnect from those days of expectation. Perhaps just like the Y2K hype turned out to be “nothing,” the spiritual readiness and fervor of those days of looking forward to the Great Jubilee has all but completely evaporated from our hearts. This, of course, is the complete antithesis of the purpose of both the encyclical and the Great Jubilee that followed. Thus focusing on God the Father, let us take another look at the said encyclical, this time from within the perspective of the time lapse that has occurred since it was written. For many reasons, it should have even more meaning for us today.

INTRODUCTION:

“As the third millennium of the new era draws near, our thoughts turn spontaneously to the words of the Apostle Paul, ‘When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman’ (Gal. 4:4). The fullness of time coincides with the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word, of the Son who is of one being with the Father, and with the mystery of the Redemption of the world. In this passage, Saint Paul emphasizes that the Son of God was born of woman, born under the Law, so that they might receive adoption as sons and daughters. And he adds, ‘Because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying  ‘Abba! Father!’ His conclusion is truly comforting: ‘So through God you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir’” (Gal. 4:6-7; Preparing for the Year 2000, Urbi et Orbi Communications, 1996).

by srmargaretmary on May 13, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in God the Father, Jesus Christ, John Paul II, Scripture, The Holy Trinity
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Posted by srmargaretmary on May 13, 2012

http://godthefathercalls.wordpress.com/2012/05/13/2000-and-beyond-1-35/

We are His children

“See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God, and so we are….Beloved we are God’s children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. (1 Jn 3:1-2)

by srmargaretmary on April 29, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Divine Mercy, Genesis, God the Father, Jesus Christ, Salvation History, Scripture, The Holy Trinity
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Posted by srmargaretmary on April 29, 2012

http://godthefathercalls.wordpress.com/2012/04/29/we-are-his-children/

His Mercy endures forever

“Whoever believes that Jesus is the Messiah is a child of God; and whoever loves a father loves his child also. This is how we know that we are God’s children: it is by loving God and obeying his commands. For our love for God means that we obey his commands. And his commands are not too hard for us, because every child of God is able to defeat the world. And we win the victory over the world by means of our faith. Who can defeat the world? Only the person who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus Christ is the one who came with the water of his baptism and the blood of his death. He came not only with the water, but with both the water and the blood. And the Spirit himself testifies that this is true, because the Spirit is truth” (1 Jn 5:1-6).

by srmargaretmary on April 20, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Divine Mercy, God the Father, Jesus Christ, Salvation History, Scripture, The Holy Trinity
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Posted by srmargaretmary on April 20, 2012

http://godthefathercalls.wordpress.com/2012/04/20/his-mercy-endures-forever/

Feast of Mercy – 3

RESOURCES

With these considerations being quite limited, the information below will add much to understanding and implementing the Devotion to Divine Mercy.

A good preparation for Divine Mercy Sunday is praying the  Divine Mercy chaplet:

http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/mercy/dmmap.htm

As for the history and development of Devotion view: 

http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/mercy/index.htm

http://www.divinemercysunday.com/index.htm

http://www.fisheaters.com/divinemercy.html

http://thedivinemercy.org/

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/tribunals/apost_penit/documents/rc_trib_appen_doc_20020629_decree-ii_en.html

You expired, O Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls and an ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. O Fount of Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole world and empty Yourself out upon us. O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in You. Amen

by srmargaretmary on April 12, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Devotions, Divine Mercy, God the Father, Jesus Christ, Prayers, Salvation History, Scripture, The Holy Trinity
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Posted by srmargaretmary on April 12, 2012

http://godthefathercalls.wordpress.com/2012/04/12/feast-of-mercy-3/

Feast of Mercy – 2

“Why would our Lord promise to pour out such extraordinary graces on this particular Feast Day? On the one hand, we should note the liturgical appropriateness of this promise. If the Octave Day of Easter is truly meant to be, as Pope John Paul II once said, a day of ‘thanksgiving for the goodness God has shown to man in the whole Easter mystery” (Understanding Divine Mercy Sunday, JPII Institute of Divine Mercy), then we should not be surprised that He [Jesus] promised the most extraordinary spiritual benefits to those who come to Holy Communion on that day in a state of grace, and with the disposition of trust in His merciful love. After all, what better day could there be in the liturgical calendar for such a generous outpouring of divine grace than the day that recapitulates and completes the greatest annual celebration of the Paschal mystery? As Jesus said to St. Faustina, on this special day of the Church’s liturgical year, “the very depths of my tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon these souls who approach the fount of My Mercy” (Kowalska, F. 2003. Diary: Divine Mercy in my soul, #699).

The Extraordinary Graces given by God on Divine Mercy Sunday

According to St. Faustina, Jesus Christ gave her a special promise, that she was to communicate to the whole world: “My daughter, tell the whole world about My inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy” (ibid.). Three times in her diary does St. Faustina record a promise from Christ, regarding the extraordinary graces that He will give, to whoever does the following with sincerity of heart, as follows:
  1. “I want to grant a complete pardon to the souls that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion on the Feast of My Mercy” (ibid., #1109);
  2. “Whoever approaches the Fount of Life on this day will be granted complete forgiveness of sins and punishment” (#300); and
  3. “The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion will obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment” (#699).
by srmargaretmary on April 10, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Devotions, Divine Mercy, God the Father, Jesus Christ
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Posted by srmargaretmary on April 10, 2012

http://godthefathercalls.wordpress.com/2012/04/10/feast-of-mercy-2/

Feast of Mercy – 1

These days of the week following Easter, and that end on Mercy Sunday, traditionally prolong the feast-day celebrations of Easter and are known as an octave. Octaves are celebrated in the life of the Church because the person, or mystery, commemorated merits a prolonged period of celebration. Easter and its octave take first place among all the octaves of the Church, because they commemorate the central truth of the Catholic faith: that is, that Jesus Christ is alive, risen, and seated at the right hand of God the Father, after having forfeited His life on the Cross for our salvation.

On the second Sunday of Easter, that is eight days after Easter, we venerate and celebrate the feast of Divine Mercy, because it is the source of all that we have commemorated during the week of Easter. According to the keepers of the official shrine of Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, MA, “The Octave Day of Easter, now known as Divine Mercy Sunday, points us to the merciful love of God that lies behind the whole Paschal Mystery ~ the whole mystery of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ made present for us in the Eucharist. In this way, it also sums up the whole Easter Octave. As Pope John Paul II pointed out in his Regina Caeli address on Divine Mercy Sunday, 1995: ‘the whole octave of Easter is like a single day,’ and the Octave Sunday is meant to be the day of ‘thanksgiving for the goodness God has shown to man in the whole Easter mystery’” (Apostles of Divine Mercy, 2002-2011).
by srmargaretmary on April 10, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Devotions, Divine Mercy, God the Father, Jesus Christ
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Posted by srmargaretmary on April 10, 2012

http://godthefathercalls.wordpress.com/2012/04/10/feast-of-mercy-1/

The Father always present

“Father — with this word I express my certainty that someone is there who hears me, who never leaves me alone, who is always present.”

“I express my certainty that God, despite the infinite difference between Him and me, is such that I can speak to Him, may even address Him familiarly as “thou” (German du). His greatness does not overwhelm me, does not reject me as insignificant and unimportant.”

“Certainly I am subject to Him as a child is subject to his father, yet there is such a fundamental similarity and likeness between Him and me, yes, I am so important to Him, I belong so closely to Him, that I can rightly address Him as ‘Father.’ My being born is not a mistake, then, but a grace. It is good to live even though I do not always perceive it. I am wanted; not a child of chance or necessity, but of choice and freedom.”

“Therefore I shall also have a purpose in life; there will always be a meaning for me, a task designed just for me, there is a conception of me that I can seek and find and fulfill. When the school of life becomes unbearably hard, when I would like to cry out as Job did, as the psalmist did — then I can transform this cry into the word ‘Father’ and the cry will gradually become a word, a reminder to trust, because from the Father’s perspective it is clear that my distress, yes, my agony, is part of the greater love for which I give thanks” (In Ratzinger, J. 1992. Co-workers of the truth: Meditations for every day of the year).

by srmargaretmary on March 29, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Benedict XVI, God the Father, Salvation History, Scripture
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Posted by srmargaretmary on March 29, 2012

http://godthefathercalls.wordpress.com/2012/03/29/the-father-always-present/

The Father who saves

“For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:17)

by srmargaretmary on March 18, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Genesis, God the Father, Jesus Christ, Old Testament, Scripture, The Holy Trinity
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Posted by srmargaretmary on March 18, 2012

http://godthefathercalls.wordpress.com/2012/03/18/1840/

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