Children of the Same Father (Wednesday, Week 27, Year 2, Our Lady of the Rosary)

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It was when I had an opportunity to chat with a girl who was raised only by her mother that I really understood what it means to be raised by a single parent, without the shielding presence of a father. Much more painful are the experiences of some children raised in a broken home, where the father and the mother have gone their separate ways. A great number end up having serious complexes and becoming obviously disorganized in life. Apart from other roles that a father plays in the family, the father figure remains a unifying figure in the family. In nuclear and extended families, children can come together under one umbrella as children of the same father. 

And that is why it is very interesting to hear Jesus beginning his prayer tutorials with his disciples by drawing them into the consciousness that they are all children of one father in heaven (cf. Luke 11:2; Matt. 6:9). Amongst the different parts of that prayer which can take us days to exhaust, I am much more thrilled by the fact that such awareness was created. In that expression, the father in heaven is described as OUR FATHER, not my father or your father or their father. And there is no where it is written that this father in heaven is only for the Jews or for the Gentiles or for the circumcised or for the uncircumcised or for the black or for the white; and so on. This is to show us that we all are co-heirs with Christ sharing the same father. This consciousness is the kind of consciousness that siblings who fight are drawn to: DON’T YOU KNOW THAT YOU ARE CHILDREN OF THE SAME FATHER?

This must be the reason why Paul was not happy with Peter for hypocritically joining the party of the Judaizers who did not want to regard the uncircumcised Christians as co-heirs with Christ, as fellow members of the body of Christ (cf. Gal. 2:1-2.7-14). Amongst other things, this is one of the reasons why St Paul wrote the Letter to the Galatians to convince Christians in Galatia that “whether a Jew or Gentile, male or female, old or young, we all are one in Christ Jesus” (cf. Gal. 3:28) and thus, children of the same father in heaven.

I don’t know how we feel about it when we create distinctions and put up discriminatory attitudes towards others. Quote me anywhere: any Christian who discriminates against others is not worthy to be called a Christian. Yet, we continue to discriminate on the basis of politics, tribal affiliation, social standing and the rest. We can only have peace of mind if we appreciate and embrace the bitter truth that discrimination puts a big question mark on our Christian identity. And this should help us seek for ways that promote peace, love, unity and mutual up-building.       



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