The Father’s Family

Eight Day Preparation Prayers for the Feast of Abba Our Father, the Father of All Humanity, and
Prayers for the Celebration of the Feast

Feast Day Date

The Feast of Abba Our Father, the Father of all Humanity, is celebrated on the first Sunday of August.
August, the Eighth Month, is the appropriate month for celebrating the Feast of God the Father given the significance of “eight” in the Bible. And the first Sunday of August would be the appropriate day since this is a celebration to accompany our Sabbath worship.

“Eight” is appropriate because, as is well known, the eighth day was the day ordained for sacred feasts in the Old Testament. This continued in the New Testament even with the institution of the Sabbath on “Sunday.”

The Jewish feast of Booths/Tabernacles was held on the eighth day:
“For seven days you shall offer an oblation to the LORD, and on the eighth day you will have a declared holy day. You shall offer an oblation to the LORD. It is the festival closing. You shall do no heavy work. ” Leviticus 23:36
“On the eighth day you will hold a public assembly: you shall do no heavy work. ”
Numbers 29:35
The Jewish purification ritual was on the eighth day
“On the eighth day the individual shall take two unblemished male lambs. ” Leviticus 14:10
The feast of the Dedication of the Temple was also on the eighth day.
“On this occasion Solomon and with him all Israel, a great assembly from Lebo-hamath to the Wadi of Egypt, celebrated the festival for seven days. On the eighth day they held a solemn assembly, for they had celebrated the dedication of the altar for seven days and the feast for seven days. ” 2 Chronicles 7:8-9
In Ezekiel’s vision of the future, we see,
“And when these days are over, from the eighth day on, the priests shall sacrifice your burnt offerings and communion offerings on the altar. Then I will be pleased with you.” Ezekiel 43:27.

Christians as different as St. Augustine and John Calvin have commented on the importance of eight in the life of Jesus:

St. Augustine – [Jesus] “brought it about that His body rested from all its works on Sabbath in the tomb, and that His resurrection on the third day, which we call the Lord’s day, the day after the Sabbath, and therefore the eighth, proved the circumcision of the eighth day to be also prophetical of Him.”
John Calvin – “It is probable and consonant with reason, that the number seven designated the course of the present life. Therefore the eighth day might seem to be fixed upon by the Lord, to prefigure the beginning of a new life.”

Jesus revealed his own consecration to the Father during the Jewish eight day feast of Dedication.

Overview
We prepare for the Feast by meditating on the milestone events in the salvation history of humanity over an eight-day period. The first day is the Sunday before the feast day which is also a Sunday, the first Sunday of August. These are the milestone events on which we will meditate:
The Breach Between God and Humankind at the Dawn of History
The Father’s Outreach to Us through the People of Israel
The Yes of Mary, the New Eve, to the Father
The Subsequent Incarnation of the Only Begotten Son and his Yes
The Sending of the Holy Spirit
Our Own Personal Journey to the Father Made Possible by the Redemptive Death of his Son
Our Yes to our Abba Father through the Incarnation of the Son and the Indwelling of the Spirit
The Climax of Our Earthly Journey in the New Heaven and the New Earth

On each preparation day we reflect on one of these events using the meditation material suggested here.
Each daily meditation is accompanied by the eight-step prayer below:
Father, I love you and I give myself to you through your Son and in your Spirit. Take care of everything.
I praise you with all my heart and soul and mind
I thank you from the very depth of my being
I give you all of myself always and everywhere
I repent of all the sins of my life both past and present
I come to you as your heir and beloved child
I surrender myself to you turning away from the world, the flesh and the Devil
I promise to remain faithful to you and to your commandments
I consecrate myself to you now and forever
Father, I love you and I give myself to you through your Son and in your Spirit. Take care of everything.
After the celebration of the feast, on a daily basis we can reflect briefly on each milestone event and say the eight-step prayer after each event.

A Tripod of Truths

Our individual consecration to the Father and our celebration of the Feast of Abba Our Father, the Father of all Humanity, are centered on three fundamental truths:
Our Father’s infinite love for his children
Our identity as prodigal children repenting and returning to Our Father
The endless graces and blessings bestowed on us, the prodigals, who return to their Father

We begin our preparation for our own consecration and the celebration of the feast of the Father by meditating on this tripod of truths.

These truths are thunderously proclaimed in the Bible.

The most fundamental of the three is the infinite love of the Father:
“God is love. In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:8-10)

“God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” (John 3:16).

“See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God.” (1 John 3:1)

The return of the prodigals is played out across the Bible and reaches its climax in the heart-breaking parable of the prodigal son
“He got up and went back to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son.’ But his father ordered his servants, ‘Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast, because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.’ Then the celebration began.” (Luke 15:10-24)

Only one thing is asked of the prodigals – LOVE:
“If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing. For we know partially and we prophesy partially, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things. At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known. So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” Corinthians 13: 1-13

Finally, the Father’s protection and provision, his Power and Providence “will pursue me all the days of my life.”
“For I know well the plans I have in mind for you … plans for your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope. When you call me, and come and pray to me, I will listen to you.” (Jeremiah 29:11-12)

“The LORD is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack. In green pastures he makes me lie down; to still waters he leads me; he restores my soul. He guides me along right paths for the sake of his name. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff comfort me. You set a table before me in front of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Indeed, goodness and mercy will pursue me all the days of my life; I will dwell in the house of the LORD for endless days.” (Psalm 23).

All that we receive comes from him:
“Every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.” (James 1:17)

He loves us to the point of watching over every infinitesimal detail of our being:
“Are not five sparrows sold for two small coins? Yet not one of them has escaped the notice of God. Even the hairs of your head have all been counted. Do not be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows.” (Luke 12:6-7)
“Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they?” (Matthew 6:26)

He refuses his beloved children nothing:
“If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him.” (Matthew 7:11)
“So do not worry and say, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear?’ All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom [of God] and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.” (Matthew 6:31-33)

Meditations for Days One to Eight – Sunday to Sunday

On each day of the octave that culminates in the Feast of Abba Our Father, the Father of all Humanity, we meditate on a single theme in humankind’s saga of salvation. The themes follow the chronological order of salvation history.
Below are suggested meditations for each day. Each meditation can be accompanied by the eight-step prayer.

Day 1 – the Sunday Before the First Sunday of August
The Breach Between God and Humankind at the Dawn of History

“Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the animals that the LORD God had made. The serpent asked the woman, "Did God really tell you not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?" The woman answered the serpent: "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; it is only about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, 'You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die.'" But the serpent said to the woman: "You certainly will not die! No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is bad." The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves. When they heard the sound of the LORD God moving about in the garden at the breezy time of the day, the man and his wife hid themselves from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. The LORD God then called to the man and asked him, "Where are you?" He answered, "I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself." Then he asked, "Who told you that you were naked? You have eaten, then, from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!" The man replied, "The woman whom you put here with me--she gave me fruit from the tree, so I ate it." The LORD God then asked the woman, "Why did you do such a thing?" The woman answered, "The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it." (Genesis 3: 1-13).

“Then the LORD God said to the serpent: "Because you have done this, you shall be banned from all the animals and from all the wild creatures; On your belly shall you crawl, and dirt shall you eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel." To the woman he said: "I will intensify the pangs of your childbearing; in pain shall you bring forth children. Yet your urge shall be for your husband, and he shall be your master." To the man he said: "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat, "Cursed be the ground because of you! In toil shall you eat its yield all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to you, as you eat of the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face shall you get bread to eat, Until you return to the ground, from which you were taken; For you are dirt, and to dirt you shall return." … [H]e must not be allowed to put out his hand to take fruit from the tree of life also, and thus eat of it and live forever." The LORD God therefore banished him from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he had been taken.” (Genesis 3: 14-19, 22-3).

Something went wrong at the start of human history. Something that affected all of us who came after. And its roots lie in our freedom and our unity as a race, as one human family.

This is the tale told by humankind in its myths, ancient narratives and primordial practices.

We read in Greek mythology: “That thou art guiltless of this murder – who should vouch? Nay, nay! Yet indeed a Vengeance from ancient days may have been thine accomplice.”

As we read in the Book of Genesis:
“From that tree you shall not eat.” “But the serpent said to the woman: ‘You certainly will not die! No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is bad.’” “The woman answered, "The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it.” (Genesis 3: 1-13) “The LORD God therefore banished him from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he had been taken.” (Genesis 3: 14-19, 22-3)

This narrative is not an event in the history of science but the story of the human soul. Its truth is to be found in our own psyches and experience and history as a whole. We are desperately evil. Sin bedevils us all. The deadly sins in all their insane fury weigh each of us down at virtually every instant. Who can deny that guilt and shame play an inordinate role in human life? Or the pattern: first you deliberate, then you perpetrate.

This is the hard evidence we have:
The most ancient human societies believed that the origin of evil lay in some primordial catastrophe engineered by humanity.
All pre-Christian religions shared the belief that the original breach created an unbridgeable gulf between us and God.
The all-pervasive prevalence of the strange practice of sacrifice in every ancient society turned this belief in a divine-human breach into a concrete act.

Sacrifice is the super-theme of human history. Both in primitive and organized societies, sacrifice was de rigueur. Its rationale was elaborate. Its performance was linked to expiation (atonement) and reparation. To expiate and to seek reparation means to say “I’m sorry.” But “sorry” for what?

Sorry for upsetting the divine order of the universe: this is what they said in ancient India, Persia, China, Israel, et al.

We are told that at the very dawn of its history, the human race said “No” to God: we don’t know when, where, how. We just know “that.”

This insight is formalized in the doctrine of Original Sin which says simply that evil had its beginning in the abuse of human freedom: and that evil once unleashed leaves its mark in every human psyche.

So what next? While sacrifice was the human response to Original Sin, there was also a divine response. In the Genesis account, we have God telling the serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel.” (Genesis 3:15). Later commentators have seen in this verse a prophecy of what was to come “in the fullness of time.”

And when we come to the New Testament, we see that Jesus the Christ is the counterpoint to Adam (“man”), the ancestor of humankind. Jesus is the New Adam who obeys where the old Adam did not and who thereby redeems his race: “For just as through the disobedience of one person the many were made sinners, so through the obedience of one the many will be made righteous.” (Romans 5:19).

The last book of the Bible, Revelation, specifically consummates themes found in the first, Genesis. Genesis is the book of the first Creation, Revelation the book of the New Creation (the New Heaven and the New Earth). Revelation details the continuing onslaughts of the Serpent and its final defeat. Revelation ends where Genesis began: a new Eden with the indwelling presence of God, a life-giving river and the Tree of Life offered to all the righteous, i.e., the obedient.

Prayer for the day

Father, I love you and I surrender and give myself to you through your Son and in your Spirit. Take care of everything.
I praise you with all my heart and soul and mind
I thank you from the very depth of my being
I give you all of myself, always and everywhere
I repent of all the sins of my life, both past and present
I come to you as your heir and beloved child
I surrender myself to you, turning away from the world, the flesh and the Devil
I promise to remain faithful to you and to your commandments
I consecrate myself to you now and forever
Father, I love you and I surrender and give myself to you through your Son and in your Spirit. Take care of everything.

Day 2
The Father’s Outreach to Us through the People of Israel

“When Israel was a child I loved him, out of Egypt I called my son. The more I called them, the farther they went from me, sacrificing to the Baals and burning incense to idols. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, who took them in my arms; but they did not know that I cared for them. I drew them with human cords, with bands of love; I fostered them like those who raise an infant to their cheeks; I bent down to feed them. …How could I give you up, Ephraim, or deliver you up, Israel? … My heart is overwhelmed, my pity is stirred. I will not give vent to my blazing anger, I will not destroy Ephraim again; For I am God and not a man, the Holy One present among you; I will not come in wrath.” (Hosea 11: 1-4, 8-9)

The breach of the divine order was not simply the original act of alienation from God: it includes the continuous multiplication of breaches by every human person. This is what is meant by sin. Through its practice of sacrifice, humankind showed its awareness that this breach had consequences which it sought to expiate and mitigate through sacrifice.

We see a living awareness of a supreme Godhead not just in primeval peoples, but in the religious life of ancient India, China, Persia and Mesopotamia. Polytheism was actually a secondary phenomenon, a devolution from the most ancient insight which was that of the Supreme Being. The awareness of the Absolute came to a climax in the history of Jews.

This universal idea of a moral law, its breach and the consequences of the breach explains everything that happens in the Old Testament with one unique addition – the God whose law was breached is personally involved in trying to rectify the breach.

The Hebrew Bible is an account of the interaction between the divine Mind and a specific race of people over a period of thousands of years. God, as experienced by Israel, was not an impersonal Absolute or capricious deity. He is an infinite and eternal Spirit and yet he is personal and concrete.

Underlying the interaction between God and the people of Israel was a partnership or covenant between them. It is God who initiates the agreement with Israel, lays out its structure and enforces its provisions. He is demanding but he is demanding precisely because this is what is most beneficent for his human partners. Moral laws are the touchstones of the partnership between Creator and creature. The covenant came into being because of the obedience of Abraham, the father of the Israelites, and was later amplified under Moses, their greatest leader.

Essentially, the Old Testament narratives show the unfolding of the divine plan to rescue the human race. It is a story of the goodness and love of God and his grief over the self-chosen path of evil of his creatures with all its inevitable consequences. “When the LORD saw how great the wickedness of human beings was on earth, and how every desire that their heart conceived was always nothing but evil … his heart was grieved.” (Genesis 6:5-6). The experience of the Israelites is inextricably connected to Genesis. The themes of God’s creation and providence, of obedience and the consequence of disobedience, that we find in Genesis 1-3 resonates through the rest of the Hebrew Bible.

What we see in Hosea and the Prophets is a chronicle of a Father seeking the children who have abandoned him. It is the sad melody of his unconditional, unrequited love.

Three other themes are prominent in the Old Testament: the prophecy of the coming of a Messiah who would usher in a new era and whose kingdom is everlasting; the promise of a new covenant with God that will be written on the human heart; and the narrative of a suffering servant who would redeem his people from their sins by his death. This meant that the Covenant between the Father and his children was to be embodied in a Person.

Prayer for the day

Day 3
The Yes of Mary, the New Eve, to the Father

“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel.” Isaiah 7:14

“In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” And the angel said to her in reply, “The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.
And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God.” Mary said,
“Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.” Luke 1:26-38

“Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted (and you yourself a sword will pierce) so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”” Luke 2:34-35

“Jesus said to her, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.”
His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.”” John 2:4-5

“A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was with child”. Revelation 12:1-2

“Then the dragon became angry with the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring”. Revelation 12:17

Salvation or damnation, the will of God or my own will? Yes or No? This was the choice offered at the inception of humankind. Sadly, as we have seen, the reply was “No” and the consequence a tragedy without end. But then the human race was given a second chance.

A young virgin who had “found favor” with the Father was asked to bear the Messiah of Israel, the Son of the Most High, the Savior. She said “Yes”: “May it be done to me according to your word.” The result was redemption: the gate of Heaven being opened again through the life, death and resurrection of God incarnate: salvation made possible for all who accept the divine invitation.

Her response to the angelic invitation to be the Mother of the Redeemer meant the difference between damnation and the possibility of salvation for humanity. Fortunately, she said “Yes.”

Mary the Virgin could easily have said “No” as so many did throughout the biblical narratives. The Old and New Testament texts are essentially accounts of choices and consequences. There was no pre-programming at any point: simply a trail of tears from the beginning broken by occasional triumphs featuring unlikely heroes and heroines.

It is precisely because Mary’s choice was a fruit of her own free will that her cousin exclaimed: “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” You are blessed because you believed!

Her “Yes” is ultimately a victory for God. The last word in the human experiment does not go to the Devil and the errant first couple. This would have been the case if redemption was entirely and exclusively a product of divine action. But it was a human person who pulled the trigger that enabled divine intervention beginning with the conception and birth of the divine-human Savior and culminating in his salvific death and resurrection.

The Father’s “idea” of creating free human persons could not be derailed even by the concerted effort of all the forces of evil. There was at least one human person – the Mother of Jesus – who freely chose the divine plan (Jesus, we remember, was a human being but a divine Person). Mary’s “Yes” is thus a divine triumph in the human realm just as the Archangel Michael’s “Yes” to God was a divine victory in the angelic domain. Of course, she was able to say “Yes” because of the grace given her by God – but she had to accept the gift of grace.

A second dimension is important here. The incarnation of God in Christ took place in and through a family: he was the virginal child of a married couple. The participation of the family went beyond the Incarnation and extended to the Son’s redemptive mission.

In the case of Mary, she was told she would be pierced with a sword as she participated in her Son’s mission. The redemption of humanity was achieved not as a solitary act but an act begotten in solidarity because it was an act into which the Redeemer drew his family. The father and the mother played a supporting role in the lifework of the Son of God made man in a manner that was distinct from the part played by his Apostles and other followers. They were participants in the mission of Jesus even before his birth!

From the beginning, the early Church recognized that Mary was the New Eve just as Jesus was the New Adam. At the center of Incarnation, Redemption and Mediation is the incarnate Word of God who is Redeemer and infinite Mediator. But united with him, GIVEN by him and working with him in a unique and irrevocable mode is his mother, the New Eve.

We recognize too the foundational importance of Mary’s “Yes” for our own sakes. The gate of Heaven is open. But there is no guarantee of entry. No matter what some theologies say, the teaching of Jesus in the Gospels is unequivocal: we have to say “Yes” to him and “Yes” on a continuous basis. In grasping the “one thing” that is pivotal about Mary, we come to see the urgency of saying “Yes” to God ourselves.

Prayer for the day

Day 4
The Subsequent Incarnation of the Only Begotten Son and his Yes

“He had no majestic bearing to catch our eye, no beauty to draw us to him. He was spurned and avoided by men, a man of suffering, knowing pain, like one from whom you turn your face, spurned, and we held him in no esteem. Yet it was our pain that he bore, our sufferings he endured. We thought of him as stricken, struck down by God and afflicted, but he was pierced for our sins, crushed for our iniquity. He bore the punishment that makes us whole, by his wounds we were healed. We had all gone astray like sheep, all following our own way; But the LORD laid upon him the guilt of us all. Though harshly treated, he submitted and did not open his mouth; Like a lamb led to slaughter or a sheep silent before shearers, he did not open his mouth. Seized and condemned, he was taken away. (…) But it was the LORD’s will to crush him with pain. By making his life as a reparation offering he shall see his offspring, shall lengthen his days, and the LORD’s will shall be accomplished through him. (…) My servant, the just one, shall justify the many, their iniquity he shall bear.” Isaiah 53:2-7, 10-12
“You are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means “God is with us.” Matthew 1:21-23.

“I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me.” John 6:38

“Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, not my will but yours be done.” Luke 22:42

“The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption.” Galatians 4:4-5

“Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” John 14:9

“The Father and I are one.” John 10:30

“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:17

“All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.” Matthew 11:27

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” John 14:6

“The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” John 14:10

Without Jesus there would be no revelation of the Father. Without Jesus, there would be no enduring relationship for us with the Father. In fact, Jesus’ revelation of the Father was equally a revelation of his Sonship. So who was he?

Incarnation

Jesus said he was the Son of the Father specifically in the sense of sharing the same divine existence.

His enemies immediately grasped the connection. “The Jews 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.” (John 5:18)

To be the “only” Son of the Father is to possess the same “nature” as the Father. The Father is divine and therefore so is the Son. This is the proclamation of the New Testament.

As attested by the first accounts of Jesus’ life, the recorded acts of his apostles and the proclamation of his church, more was claimed about him than of any other human being before or after. The claim was that Jesus is God incarnate, God and man, Eternity “time-stamped.”

Jesus’ resurrection, his miracles, his life of perfect holiness, his transcendent teaching, his changing of the laws of human existence testify to the truth of his divine status.

To say Jesus of Nazareth is God incarnate is to affirm that God manifested his Triune (Three-in-One) Being and Action in the existence of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus was the locus of the divine in human terms. From start to finish, from conception, baptism and ministry to death, resurrection and ascension, Jesus’ life was above all a manifestation of the tri-personal God: he was the Son, filled with the Holy Spirit, doing the Will of his Father. Every human person is made in the image of God. Jesus is a divine Person in the image of man.

Redemption

Humanity has always known that it is sinful—and we need to be saved from our sins. The problem is that our sin is against God—it is a sin that has led to the current human condition: evil, suffering, death. To make atonement for this sin, to pay the price for this sin, the person who does so must be capable of doing so in terms of making an infinite reparation while also being human. And this reparation must be such as to make heaven possible for us, must cure the evil that is within us, must decisively allow us to go beyond death, must make happiness possible here and now. And all of this must take place in the course of human history because that is the matrix that determines human destiny. And it is all of this that the New Testament writers claimed about Jesus.

The very name of Jesus tells us that his mission is to take us back to the Father: “You are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).

From the very beginning there was no doubt as to the meaning of this mission. “Just as through one transgression condemnation came upon all, so through one righteous act acquittal and life came to all” (Romans 5:18). The suffering for the sins of humanity that Jesus took on himself was for sins past, present, and future – “Through his suffering, my servant shall justify many, and their guilt he shall bear. … He shall take away the sins of many, and win pardon for their offenses” (Isaiah 53:11–12). When Jesus asks Saul, “why are you persecuting me?” we are given to understand that this persecution of Christians personally afflicts him. In fact, those who reject the faith they had once accepted, apostate Christians, “are re-crucifying the Son of God for themselves.” (Hebrews 6:6).

Only Jesus’ identity as the divine Son incarnate makes sense of his being able to cure the breach.
The solution to the problem of Original Sin is a redemptive act that can be performed only by someone who is both divine and human.

The slightest offence against God who is infinite goodness and holiness is infinite in its impact: God’s infinite Goodness cannot, by its very nature, co-exist with the slightest evil and so the slightest rejection of God means total separation.

Thus humanity’s “Fall” created an unbridgeable gulf between Creator and creatures. Only an atoning sacrifice of infinite value could re-open the path to God. And it would have to be a sacrifice performed by the offending party: Adam: humanity. And yet only an infinite Person could perform a sacrifice of infinite value.

There was no solution to this problem from the standpoint of divine law and logic. But then there is also the reality of the Father’s love.

And the Father’s solution was as ingenious as it was poignant: an infinite Person would take on a human nature and atone for humanity’s Original Sin. As damnation came from disobedience, salvation would come from perfect obedience. And obedience in a world of sin and evil meant suffering and death. As we saw, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” (John 3:16).

To understand the possibility of one man taking on the consequences of the actions of other humans, we have only to reflect on the “solidarity” of all humanity in the consequences of sin. The choices of a father shape and affect his children just as the acts of a head of state affect and involve the nation as a whole. But the same cause-and-effect web that connects negative choices and their consequences also links positive choices with their consequences. And that is why it was possible for Jesus – the new Adam who is God incarnate – to be the redeemer of humanity.

The liberation from sin offered by Jesus is unprecedented. There are three universal desires:
to be absolved of guilt and shame;
to love and be loved;
to make sense of and cope with suffering.
Jesus absolved, he loved, and his suffering gave meaning to all suffering.

Prayer for the day

Day 5
The Sending of the Holy Spirit

“His mother Mary was … found with child through the holy Spirit.” Matthew 1:18

“After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened [for him], and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove [and] coming upon him.” Matthew 3:16

“Filled with the holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert.” Luke 4:1

“Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit.” Luke 4:14

“I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, The Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept … But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you.” John 14:16-17

“When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me.” John 15:26

“If I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.” John 16:7

“Blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven … whoever speaks against the holy Spirit will not be forgiven.” Matthew 12:32

“No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.” John 3:5

“When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the holy Spirit and begin to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim. … Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice, and proclaimed to them, … “This is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ‘It will come to pass in the last days,’ God says, ‘that I will pour out a portion of my spirit upon all flesh.” Acts 2:1,4, 14, 16-7
“As proof that you are children, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!’” Galatians 4:6

“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. … You received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, “Abba, Father!” Romans 8:14-15

The Incarnation of God in Jesus of Nazareth – which like Pentecost took place in “the fullness of time” – was an unprecedented divine “insertion” into human history.

By taking on a human nature, the Son made it possible for human beings to take on his divine Life. This imparting of the divine Life is the “indwelling” of the Holy Spirit. It was a second and equally dramatic divine “insertion” into the life of humanity.

The Incarnation of God is followed by the Indwelling of God.

Those who are indwelt by God, you might say, are activated with the divine Life that is Spirit.

They become the offspring of God at a new level. By living with the Life of the Son, they became his brothers and sisters and thus children of his Father.

The Indwelling had visible and invisible “effects” on the faithful.

On the visible plane, there were prophecies and miraculous healings and the bewildering spectacle of speaking in “tongues” (languages and speech patterns previously unknown to the speaker).

On the invisible level, there were the seven gifts of the Spirit prophesied by Isaiah and the gifts and fruits of the Spirit chronicled by Paul. These involved the supernatural elevation of the central dimensions of the human soul: the capabilities of knowing and loving. Thus, there were “gifts” like wisdom, knowledge and fortitude and “fruits” like kindness and joy and peace.

The visible and the invisible went hand in hand: “When Paul laid [his] hands on them, the holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.” (Acts 19:6)

It was always recognized that there was a hierarchy. The invisible gifts and fruits, expressed in thought, word and action, took priority over the visible manifestations of the Spirit. Love was the greatest of the gifts:
“If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:13)

Love was followed by the other “inner” gifts and fruits and, lastly, by the extraordinary public gifts of prophecy, healing and speaking in tongues. Each level had its own divinely ordained role. And the hierarchy as a whole was inseparable from the descent of the divine Spirit.

The Holy Spirit brings about a new state of being in our return to the Father:
“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.” (Romans 8:14).
“Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16).
“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

Prayer for the day

Day 6
Our Own Personal Journey to the Father Made Possible by the Redemptive Death of his Son

“After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation. When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need. So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine. And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any. Coming to his senses he thought, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food to eat, but here am I, dying from hunger. I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.”’ So he got up and went back to his father.” Luke 15:13-20

“Have mercy on me, God, in accord with your merciful love; in your abundant compassion blot out my transgressions. Thoroughly wash away my guilt; and from my sin cleanse me. For I know my transgressions; my sin is always before me. Against you, you alone have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your eyes So that you are just in your word, and without reproach in your judgment. Behold, I was born in guilt, in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, you desire true sincerity; and secretly you teach me wisdom. Cleanse me with hyssop, that I may be pure; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. You will let me hear gladness and joy; the bones you have crushed will rejoice. Turn away your face from my sins; blot out all my iniquities. A clean heart create for me, God; renew within me a steadfast spirit. Do not drive me from before your face, nor take from me your holy spirit. Restore to me the gladness of your salvation; uphold me with a willing spirit. I will teach the wicked your ways, that sinners may return to you. Rescue me from violent bloodshed, God, my saving God, and my tongue will sing joyfully of your justice. Lord, you will open my lips; and my mouth will proclaim your praise. For you do not desire sacrifice or I would give it; a burnt offering you would not accept. My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit; a contrite, humbled heart, O God, you will not scorn.” Psalm 51:3-19

“Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.” Luke 5:31-2

We hurtle headlong into Hell. Mindlessly, helplessly, ever faster.

From our mother’s wombs, through the hormonal furies of adolescence, to the seething perversions of adulthood, we seem marked for damnation:

By forces within and without: the Devil, the “world,” weakness of will, passions and habits, instincts and impulses, sickness of soul.

Our whole life is a string of choices, free acts. We are our choices. What we become through our choices is our destiny.

We seem poised for a final cardiac arrest of the soul: eternal death: the endless misery of the undead.

But then in the damning darkness a light shines. A power pivots us from our plunge to perdition.

It is an open heart, the Heart of God, the Heart that is God.

To be Heart is to give all of one’s being to the Other: to give totally, unconditionally, forever: to love. There is only one Godhead, one infinite Mind and Will: but it is a Heart and so “possessed” by Three, each possessing it in a particular way: and each seen by us as Heart in its own distinctive relation: the Paternal Heart (“God so loved the world”), the Heart that became man (“Whoever has seen me has seen the Father”), the Heart that fills our hearts (“God sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”).

At every instant of our lives, we thirst for affection, acceptance. Nameless longings we can scarcely comprehend or communicate – “all [that] men ignored in me” (Robert Browning). An affliction with no earthly remedy, the anguish of anonymity, a lingering loneliness.

Until now. Here. Heart. “I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.” (John 13:34)

With “heart”, we go beyond reasoning and conceptualizing to perceiving and understanding and acting. To loving. The Heart transforms us into hearts.

Prayer for the day

Day 7
Our Yes to our Abba Father through the Incarnation of the Son and the Indwelling of the Spirit

“So he got up and went back to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. (…) let us celebrate with a feast, because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.’ Then the celebration began.” Luke 15:20, 23-24

“As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed his heart.” 1 Samuel 10:9

“The LORD, your God, will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you will love the LORD, your God, with your whole heart and your whole being, in order that you may live.” Deuteronomy 30:6

“But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days …. I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people. … I will forgive their iniquity and no longer remember their sin. Jeremiah 31:33-4

“They will enter it and remove all its atrocities and abominations. And I will give them another heart and a new spirit I will put within them. From their bodies I will remove the hearts of stone, and give them hearts of flesh, so that they walk according to my statutes, taking care to keep my ordinances. Thus they will be my people, and I will be their God.” Ezekiel 11:18-20

“Therefore, as the holy Spirit says: “Oh, that today you would hear his voice, ‘Harden not your hearts as at the rebellion in the day of testing in the desert, where your ancestors tested and tried me and saw my works for forty years. Because of this I was provoked with that generation and I said, “They have always been of erring heart, and they do not know my ways.” As I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter into my rest.”’” Take care, brothers, that none of you may have an evil and unfaithful heart, so as to forsake the living God. Encourage yourselves daily while it is still “today,” so that none of you may grow hardened by the deceit of sin. We have become partners of Christ if only we hold the beginning of the reality firm until the end.” Hebrews 3:7-12

“For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, “Abba, Father!”” Romans 8:14-15

“As long as the heir is not of age, he is no different from a slave, although he is the owner of everything, but he is under the supervision of guardians and administrators until the date set by his father. In the same way we also, when we were not of age, were enslaved to the elemental powers of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption. As proof that you are children, God sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.” Galatians 4:1-7

I close my eyes. I let my whole life flash before me. I think about “who” was the actor in all those experiences, who was the little god “creating” my life, who was the self-centered, self-indulgent, self-programmed zombie driving all my choices and actions. That zombie is me. And I need to be de-zombified.

I realize, in an instant, that the Bible is a code-manual telling us how to be de-zombified, how to come to life, eternal life, the life of God.

The code words make all the sense in the world once I realize I am a zombie:
“Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.’” John 3:3.
“Whoever is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.” I Corinthians 6:17.
“As proof that you are children, God sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!’ So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.” Galatians 4:6-7.
“Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” 1 Corinthians 3:16.
“No one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.” Mark 2:22
“For many, as I have often told you and now tell you even in tears, conduct themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction. Their God is their stomach.” Philippians 3:18-9.
“Everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna.” Matthew 5:28-9.
“Blot out all my iniquities. A clean heart create for me, God.” Psalm 51:11-12.
“Take every thought captive in obedience to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:5.
“Unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:3.

The deep dive takes me to the center of my soul, the “I” underlying my intellect and will, the “heart.” It is the center that needs to be “born again.” The change must be fundamental, the transformation total. The conversion must strike at the root.

I have to go down to the depths of the intellect and the foundation of the will and root out all evil desire, all pursuit of sin, all disordered pleasure and say YES to Love, Heaven, the Father; to family and dear ones; to the life I am meant to live here.

My thoughts, feelings, emotions, impulses, choices must be purged, cleansed, “taken captive.” I can no longer be self-centered: having self as the center of my soul: I need a heart transplant. I need the Heart of God as the center of my soul.

“Our Father knows what you need before you ask him. This is how you are to pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and do not subject us to the final test, but deliver us from the evil one.” (Matthew 6:8-13)

Jesus’ revelation that God is Abba, a father at the most intimate level, is accompanied by his proclamation that we are to address him as our Father. A father who protects and provides for us.

This proclamation is most famously embodied in the “Our Father” prayer.

The “Our Father” is the most important prayer of all because it is the Lord’s prayer, the prayer that God incarnate has asked of us. Unlike all the prayers of the past which were formal prayers of the community addressed to God under one of his titles – but never by name except on the Day of Atonement – this is a personal prayer where the individual addresses the Father by name. It is one-on-one. It is from a child to its Father.

The most immediate practical application of the prayer is the command to entrust all our desires and needs to our Father. We are never to worry about anything. Jesus specifies this right at the start of the Our Father prayer: “Our Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

The Lord’s Prayer in the Gospel of Luke is followed by the “ask and you will receive” commands culminating in this most memorable promise: “How much more will the Father in heaven give the holy Spirit to those who ask him?” (Luke 11:13)

The Our Father’s state of surrender and total trust is detailed in Psalms 91 and 23 and consummated in the teaching of Jesus.

Our Father invites us into the safety of his Heart while leading us through the Valley of the Shadow. Every care, every worry, all our needs and aspirations must be handed to him. He refuses us nothing if we truly surrender to him.

Entering the Promised Land means unconditionally accepting the Promises of God and thereby sharing in the Power of God. “He has bestowed on us the precious and very great promises, so that through them you may come to share in the divine nature.” (2 Peter 1:4).

We have only to surrender to our Father. We have only to trust in Jesus. We have only to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

This revelation of our dearest Abba transforms the entire prior understanding of religion and God. It was what we might call a “paradigm-shift.” Accordingly, beginning with the “Our Father” taught by Jesus, the first Christians addressed and experienced God as “Abba.” For the first time it was possible to have a relationship with God. It was indeed a personal relationship with Our Father. And it is our relationship status that determines our eternal destiny. “Unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3)

Further, only in seeing God as our loving Father and experiencing his love can we trust totally without fear of any kind. “There is no fear in love.” Our whole life has to be centered on becoming aware of the infinite love of our Father and surrendering our needs, our worries, our hopes to him. Once we live and move and have our being in the infinite love of our Abba, “there is nothing I shall fear.”

Prayer for the day

Day 8 – the First Sunday of August
The Climax of Our Earthly Journey in the New Heaven and the New Earth

“In all wisdom and insight, he has made known to us the mystery of his will in accord with his favor that he set forth in him as a plan for the fullness of times, to sum up all things in Christ, in heaven and on earth.” Ephesians 1:8-10

“For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead came also through a human being. For just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life, but each one in proper order: Christ the firstfruits; then, at his coming, those who belong to Christ; then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to his God and Father, when he has destroyed every sovereignty and every authority and power. (…) When everything is subjected to him, then the Son himself will [also] be subjected to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.” 1 Corinthians 15:21-24, 28

“Creation awaits with eager expectation the revelation of the children of God; for creation was made subject to futility, not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it, in hope that creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now.” Romans 8:18-22

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The former heaven and the former earth had passed away.” Revelation 21:1

The first book of the Bible begins with the creation of all things and the last book ends with the New Creation.
Likewise, in the beginning, there is the breach with the Father and, at the end, there is the full and final return to the Father.

This is the big picture that makes sense of human history, human destiny and our lives.

We are shown that there will be a new heaven and a new earth, a transformation of the physical world that mirrors the resurrection of Jesus.

Our final destiny, the Omega, is one of eternal union with our Creator, the Alpha. In the Omega state, says the Book of Revelation, “there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, [for] the old order has passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)

By his death, Jesus overcame the destructive power of sin. By his own resurrection, he redeemed all creation setting all of history on the path of the indwelling of the divine Spirit that would culminate in the glorification of the universe in its entirety. There is no going back, no return to the age before the incarnation of God in Christ.

Battles there will be and some will leave the Kingdom of the Most High and enter the outer darkness but, in the end, there will be a new heaven and a new earth.

God is Creator; the universe is his creation and is therefore good in itself; the end of the reign of sin over creation began with the death of Jesus; sin itself will cease to have any place in God’s creation on “the last day” when all creatures face the final judgment; we will once again be body and soul but this time with a glorified body and a purified soul; the world as we know it will be transformed, liberated from the effects of sin and powered by the life of God. God will be “all in all.” 1 Corinthians 15: 28.

How will the world be physically different in this new state?

This we can say: the attributes of the Risen Body of Jesus are a reliable model for the attributes enjoyed both by our own resurrected bodies and in some sense of the “risen” Universe; the transformation of matter that began with the incarnation of God in creation reaches its culmination in the New World and we can expect a union of the physical and the spiritual to form a universe filled with the divine Life; the everlasting joy that we will find in the Vision of the infinite-eternal Lover is tailored to our own humanness and, since to be human is to be physical and spiritual, our eternal union with God will involve the physical and spiritual dimensions of our being.

From the standpoint of those who blind themselves to God, human history is a momentary, forever forgotten flicker in the all-enveloping, never-ending darkness of “death’s dateless night.” Countries, cultures, empires are just accidents of geography and history which, for all their pomposity, strut into a void without end.

Being blind also means being unaware of the good news. The incarnate Son did not come to issue do’s and don’ts but to proclaim a call to constant joy. For this is what is offered us by the Father if we choose to live in communion with him: we are to have FOREVER. In the most fantastic, and yet the most realistic, of fairy tales, we are to “live happily ever after.” Mere reflection on this tremendous truth will change our perspectives, attitudes, views, totally. If we know that, with the passing of the nanosecond (namely, our life on earth), we will enjoy eternal ecstasy, we cannot but be joyful during that nanosecond.

But the decision to live in communion with God has to be made here-and-now.
Prayer for the day
Father, I love you and I surrender and give myself to you through your Son and in your Spirit. Take care of everything.
I praise you with all my heart and soul and mind
I thank you from the very depth of my being
I give you all of myself, always and everywhere
I repent of all the sins of my life, both past and present
I come to you as your heir and beloved child
I surrender myself to you, turning away from the world, the flesh and the Devil
I promise to remain faithful to you and to your commandments
I consecrate myself to you now and forever
Father, I love you and I surrender and give myself to you through your Son and in your Spirit. Take care of everything.
The Celebration of the Feast of Abba Our Father, the Father of all Humanity
On the eighth day, the first Sunday of August, we culminate the period of preparation with the celebration of the feast of Abba Our Father, the Father of all Humanity.
This celebration is essentially a formal collective consecration to Abba Our Father as we jointly praise and thank him for creating us for union with him and then honor, love and surrender ourselves to him.
Ideally, like all feasts, it should be celebrated liturgically.
This would include special Scripture readings and a liturgical celebration of the Lord’s Supper/the Divine Liturgy that also includes a collective act of consecration.
Below are suggested readings, prayers and the consecration text for the celebration of the Feast.
Suggested readings for the Feast of Abba Our Father
“Have we not all one father? Has not one God created us?” Malachi 2:10
“A son honors his father … If, then, I am a father, where is the honor due to me? … So says the LORD of hosts to you.” Malachi 1:6.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him. In love he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ. (…) I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that he may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; (…) so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 1:3-5;3:14-17,19.

“Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You people worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand, because salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him.” John 4:21-23

Litany
The Litany of God the Father
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of Heaven,
have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit,
have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity One God,
have mercy on us.
Father, First Person of the Most Blessed Trinity,
have mercy on us.
Father of the Only-begotten Son,
have mercy on us.
Father and Son, from Whom proceeds the Holy Spirit,
have mercy on us.
Father of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
have mercy on us.
Our Father in Heaven,
have mercy on us.
Father eternal,
hallowed be Your Name.
Father, infinite majesty,
hallowed be Your Name.
Father, infinite holiness,
hallowed be Your Name.
Father, infinite goodness,
hallowed be Your Name.
Father, infinite happiness,
hallowed be Your Name.
Father, all-powerful,
hallowed be Your Name.
Father, all-knowing,
hallowed be Your Name.
Father, present everywhere,
hallowed be Your Name.
Father, all-just,
hallowed be Your Name.
Father, all merciful,
hallowed be Your Name.
Father, creating Heaven and earth,
Your kingdom come.
Father, promising a Savior,
Your kingdom come.
Father, revealed by the Son,
Your kingdom come.
Father, willing the passion of Jesus,
Your kingdom come.
Father, accepting the Sacrifice of Calvary,
Your kingdom come.
Father, reconciled with mankind,
Your kingdom come.
Father, sending the Paraclete,
Your kingdom come.
Father, in the Name of Jesus,
Your kingdom come.
Father of Nations,
Your kingdom come.
Father of Love, cherish us.
Father of Beauty, protect us.
Father of Wisdom, direct us.
Father, Divine Providence, watch over us.
Father of the poor,
Your Will be done.
Father of orphans,
Your Will be done.
Father of widows,
Your Will be done.
Father of the exiled,
Your Will be done.
Father of the persecuted,
Your Will be done.
Father of the afflicted,
Your Will be done.
Father of the infirm,
Your Will be done.
Father of the aged,
Your Will be done.
Father, we adore You.
Father, we love You.
Father, we thank You.
Father, we bless You.
In joy and in sorrow, may we bless You.
In sickness and in health, may we bless You.
In prosperity and in adversity, may we bless You.
In consolation and in desolation, may we bless You.
In life and in death, may we bless You.
In time and in eternity, may we bless You.
Father, hear us.
Father, graciously hear us.
Lamb of God, well-beloved Son of the Father,
spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, commanding us to be perfect as the Father,
graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Our Mediator with the Father,
have mercy on us.

Consecration

Introductory Prayer
Almighty God, my Eternal Father,
from the fullness of my soul I adore You.
I am deeply grateful that You have made me
in Your image and likeness,
and that You ever hold me in Your loving embrace.
Direct me to love You with all my heart,
with all my soul,
and with my whole mind.
Direct me to love all Your children as I love myself.
O, my Father, my soul longs to be united to You,
and to rest in You forever.
Have the Holy Spirit touch my soul
so that I may love You as He does,
and as Your Beloved Son Jesus does.
Amen.

Collective Consecration Prayer

Abba Father, as your prodigal children we come to you today to show us your love, to honor you, to praise and thank you, to surrender and give ourselves to you and to consecrate our lives and our being to you.

Heavenly Father, you loved us into being, you sent us your beloved Son to save us from our sins, you sent us your Holy Spirit to sanctify us and you await our final entry into eternal glory in your plenitude of perfection.

Beloved Father, we are your children, the brothers and sisters of your only begotten Son. We are your heirs, indwelt by your Holy Spirit.

We ask you to continue to bless us and guide us, to protect and provide for us as you always have.

May we see and hear and touch and smell and taste you in all around us.

May we speak to you without ceasing.

May we never grieve you and, if we do, may we return at once, safe in your tender divine mercy.

May our hearts be filled with your infinite Love and may we become vehicles of your unconditional Love to all your other children, our brothers and sisters, and to all of creation.

Abba Father, we give ourselves to you totally and forever through your Son and in your Spirit.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be.

Amen.

Concluding Prayer (Charles de Foucauld)

Father, I abandon myself into your hands;
do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you:
I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me,
and in all Your creatures –
I wish no more than this, O Lord.
Into your hands I commend my soul;
I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,
for I love you Lord,
and so need to give myself,
to surrender myself into your hands,
without reserve,
and with boundless confidence,
For you are my Father.