The Joy of belonging to our Father in heaven

Today Sunday May 17, 2020, the Mass in the Roman Catholic Church brings to our memory a reading from the first Epistle of St. Peter (see it here) and a reading from the Gospel according to St. John (see it here). In his homily Pope Francis said: Our mission as Christians is to accomplish what St Peter exhorts in the Second Reading. We are to bear witness to the hope that we have when others ask us for an explanation. “Do it with gentleness and respect”, Peter directed, “keeping your conscience clear”. Gentleness and respect are ways of behaving characteristic of those who share a relationship with a common father, the Pope explained. “They are attitudes of belonging, belonging to one family who is certain of having a Father” who is at the centre, who is everyone’s origin, the source of all unity and salvation. And He sent the Holy Spirit to “remind us” of how to access the Father, to teach us these familial attitudes of gentleness, meekness and peace, the Pope said. At the conclusion of his homily the Pope prayed, “Let us ask the Holy Spirit to remind us always, always, how to access the Father, to remind us that we have a Father. And to this civilization that has a huge sense of being orphaned, may He grant the grace of finding the Father once again, the Father who provides everyone with a sense of meaning in life. May He make all men and women one family."

The Nicene Creed that is said every Sunday in Churches starts with an affirmation "I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible." It is clear that Christians believe that the cause without prior cause is God the Father.