Dogmatic Soup

I’m probably just slow, but… if we really do have crisis of the “Father Wound,” particularly among young American men, how is imaging God as Mother going to fix that?!?? Aside from being bad theology, it just seems like really broken psychology. Men still need fathers, even if their biological ones sucked. Trying to substitute in a mother just won’t do the trick.

Yes, I too have heard of others not liking the concept of father or mother due to unfortunate childhoods. I heard a priest say to the congregation, when addressing this topic, that God is like the father you always wanted…and He will never let you down, nor will He ever leave you or harm you. I guess it helped the others. AS for me, having lost both of my parents, knowing that God and Our Blessed Mother are their for me at all times is very comforting. We are His children first. For some reason that is soothing. It’s the other kids on the playground I have a hard time with somedays! 🙂

Eat fish–ELY

Well, that’s the thing. People have different gifts and different ways of looking at the world. There are plenty of people who do not find God’s presence indistinguishable from His absence; who feel His presence and His work going on all around them almost all the time. (This sort of person often gets mad at God, but never doubts His existence.)

But it is equally true that there are many people who do not have this instinct, and there are others who start with such a feeling, but then lose it somewhere along the line. These groups of people also require pastoral care, and should not be ignored.

But mostly, we call God our Father because Jesus told us to. That doesn’t mean that’s the only thing we can call Him, of course, but it does mean it’s an important Name.

I like the bit in St. Cyril of Jerusalem’s Catechetical Lectures where he points out that God, in allowing us to be called the Faithful, is allowing us to be called by one of His Names.