Meditations on the Father
by father Andrea D'Ascanio ofm cap

CHRISTMAS: THE FATHER'S GIFT
By Father Andrea D’Ascanio ofm cap

I experienced the “marvel” of Christmas, the wonder of a Life that blossoms, causing a lively commotion: the arrival of the grandparents filled with commotion, the other little brothers’ comments, friends coming and going, the telephone which keeps on ringing and the good news that spreads from house to house, always the same, yet always different: “Three and a half kilos... yes, everything is fine... she has a lot of hair... cute? Yes, yes ...she looks like her mother, thank goodness... But she is cast in her father’s mould... No, she doesn’t sleep, she yells...” Everything has a common denominator: JOY. I have partially understood the greatest “marvel” of all, the one our Heavenly Father must have experienced when he heard His Jesus’ first cry, at which all of heaven is overwhelmed: the Angels who come to sing their joy, who bring the good news to the shepherds and perhaps others too; the stars which re-echo the good news to the Wise Men. Heaven and earth, the spiritual world and the material world, compete to communicate the joy of the Life that has exploded. Yes, Christmas is really an explosion of joy which breaks the dreariness of death in which we are immersed. And which is renewed at every baby’s cry that pierces the heavens and arouses in the Father’s Heart an ever new “marvel”: in every son of man is reborn His only beloved Son, who for love of us was made the “Son of man”. The joy which John Paul II, in his wonderful book “Crossing the threshold of hope”, calls the “joy of creation”: God, who in creating saw that His creation was good (Gen 1:1.25), is the sources of joy for all creatures, and above all for humankind. God the Creator seems to say of all creation: “It is good that you exist”.

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ABRAHAM, LOT AND FATHER'S LOVE
by Father Andrea D'Ascanio ofmc

"Roam the streets of Jerusalem, Look about and observe, Search through her public places to find even one, who lives uprightly and seeks to be faithful, and I will pardon her, says the Lord". (Jer 5, 1) “"Father of Jesus and my Father, our Father, we have done what you asked of us, we have roamed the streets of Jerusalem and the public places of every other city in the world, we have looked about and observed: we have found the man whom you have spoken of, the one man who lives uprightly and who seeks to be faithful to You: his name is Jesus. You know him well, because He is your Son and You wanted him to become "the son of man", one of us, our brother. For his sake forgive Jerusalem, forgive the world: because You have promised it, because You want to forgive us more than we want to be forgiven. Amen."

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THE FATHER AND THE SON IN THE PASSION
by Father Andrea D'Ascanio ofmc

We are still under the yoke of suffering but, if we comply with the Will of God as Jesus did, this yoke will become light and joyful because the Father will bear its weight through us. However, we must believe in his Love and abandon ourselves to Him even when it seems that he is far away from us.

God is truly a Daddy we can trust because he will never leave us alone in suffering, but he will live it and suffer it through us in order to transform it into resurrection.

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THE FATHER'S JUSTICE
by Father Andrea D'Ascanio ofmc

Therefore, speaking about wrath as one of the attributes of God means “attributing to” God himself “disorderly gestures of the mind which arouse Him violently against someone”. And this, frankly, sounds like blaspheme, since God is infinite perfection and wrath is a sin, in fact one of the capital sins. And to add “holy” to the word “wrath” doesn’ t improve the situation, which on the other hand worsens it by making it even more contorted and ambiguous: a capital sin cannot be called “holy”, not even with the best intentions. And I believe there is not much to object to in this regard. Therefore, to speak of “God’s holy wrath” is at least improper. Let us now see how the “wrath of God” is interpreted in the Old Testament.

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by father Andrea D'Ascanio ofmc

Let us obey our Shepherd’s words and, instead of despairing in unfounded theories on how God’s wrath will be manifested, let us live our dimension of children in fullness, praying the Father to deliver us from evil; asking Him for mercy, strength and a new spirit for everyone. He will hear us, because He wants to help us more than we want to be helped, and because He is faithful to his promise. He will deliver us from evil, that is He will intervene with His power, not to destroy man, but to drive out the oppressor who “has done great things” (Jl 2:20) to his creature, and He will embrace it forever.

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