We can forget how perfectly marvelous it is that we can call God “Our Father.” Many of us were taught to pray this way from childhood. We shouldn’t, however, forget that this is a gift of pure grace. Prompted by nothing but his own love, God chose to make us his sons and daughters. Saint Paul expresses this mystery of our being taken up into the life of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God sent his Son to us through the Virgin Mary, and through Jesus, God pours the Holy Spirit into our hearts (Gal 4:4-6). Once the Spirit arrives in our hearts, because he is the Spirit of adoption as sons, he makes us cry out Abba, Father! (Rom 8:15). Because he is the Spirit of Jesus, the firstborn Son, he makes us pray as Jesus did: Abba, Father! (Mk 14:36). It is only because we have been welcomed—adopted—into the eternal life of God that we can dare to say, “Our Father.” We need to be frequently reminded of our adoption. Thus, Christians say “Our Father” all the time, whether in the morning, at Mass, in a spare moment, in a Rosary, or preparing for bed. Jesus arranged the prayer so that even if we get distracted after just two words, we have still recalled the most fundamental part, addressing God as “Our Father.” It is easy, in the spiritual life, to get caught up with worrying about what we have to do. Much more important than that is what we are called to be. Beloved, we are God’s children now (1 Jn 3:2). This is the foundation of our lives as Christians, our new identity as adopted sons and daughters of the Father, by the grace of Jesus Christ, in the gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus has plenty to teach about what we should do or say, but all of it flows from what we are: the children of God. There are times in our life, though, when we might wonder: Does God hear me when I call out “Abba, Father”? The saints give a resounding reply: Yes! Saint André Bessette said, “When you say to God ‘Our Father,’ he has his ear right next to your lips.”11 Jesus has promised that the Father is so attentive to us 15
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