4. Our real father
A family was in the
habit of praying every day in front of the holy iconostasis. One day, after the
evening prayer, the small child asked his father:
-Dad, why when
we're praying do we say that God is our Father? Is it maybe because He created
us?
-My child, God
created the whole world as well as us, humans. But while for the whole world He
is just God the Creator, for us humans He
is something more. He is the real Father and Mother of our souls.
-Why is He Mother
and Father for mankind, since we all have a mother and father who have brought
us into this life?
- We, my child,
your mother and I, have only given you
your body. But your valuable soul which lives inside your body, has been given
to you by God himself, the day you were becoming a unique personality in
your mother's womb. So, if I asked you to tell me, which one has more value,
your body or your soul, what would your answer be?
-I think, dad, that
the soul is more valuable than our body. Isn't it?
-That's right, my
child. Our soul is more valuable than
our body, since this, when we die returns to the earth from which it was
made by our Creator, but the soul returns back to God. I will now ask you a
second question. If you call us your parents, mother and father, because we
just gave you your body, how should you call our Creator God, Who gave you the
most valuable thing of your human existence, which is your soul?
-I understand what
you mean, dad. I understand why we should all call our Creator God our Mother
and Father.
-My son, as it is
for me your earthly father, there isn't a sweeter word than the word
"father", so it is for our God, there is not a sweeter word which
gives Him so much joy as this word, that is "Father". That's why when our sweet Jesus desired to teach us
how to pray, He put this word at the beginning of the most beautiful prayer,
which is the "Lord's Prayer" "Our Father who art in
heaven...".
-From now on dad
that's how I will call our good God. I will call Him "Father", like I
call you. And I will love Him so much, like I love you too.
-That's what He
wants, my son, from all His children too. He
wants us to call Him Father and trust Him wholeheartedly, like you trust
me. Moreover, this is my child, the real joy and glory of a father. That's why,
every time with love and trust you will follow His divine commands with
absolute obedience, you will make our Heavenly Father very happy. And when you
call Him "my sweet Father", He will call you "my sweet child, my
beloved boy, my precious treasure" and will fill you with His sweet
fatherly caresses and kisses.
-Dad, does God our
Father love the whole world so much? Does He love equally the good people and
the sinners?
-His love, my
child, has no limits. It is infinite. There is no way to measure it. That's why
He gets very sad when we allow our souls to be governed by the evil demon,
instead of being governed by our Father God the Creator. You cannot imagine how much His fatherly heart laments every
time He sees Satan winning even one single human soul!
-Why, daddy, is He
so unhappy?
-Because all souls, my child, are born from His
divine heart and have upon them the
breath of the Holy Spirit. That's what makes every human soul different
from all the other creations of our God. Can you remember
to tell me how our good God made man?
-Yes, first He made
our body from earth and then blew His divine breath into us, giving us our
valuable soul.
-That's right, my
child. He first made out of clay our destructible and material body and then
into this clay God gave His divine breath. This breath came out of His insides,
as the embryo comes out from the blessed womb of every mother. That's why the
creation of man is not just a simple creation, like all the other creations of
God, but something more. While all the rest of the world was created with only
one of His commands, mankind was fashioned in a completely different and unique
way. Our creation, said a devout priest, reminds us more of a birth, than a simple
creation. This is why He adorns us with such gifts and possibilities, that no
other creature in the world has.
-What are these
gifts, dad, which make us different from all the rest of His creations?
-He made us, my child, in His image and likeness! To be the most
perfect of His creatures, as inside of
us is hiding something from God Himself, which is our precious soul with His
divine breath upon it.
-So, dad, our soul
is what gives value to the clay, which is our body, isn't it?
-Exactly, my child.
That's why when our soul leaves our body, it becomes soil again, one with the
earth, from where it came.
-That is to say,
dad, when our body dies, the soul
doesn't die with it too?
-Of course it
doesn't die. Our body has a beginning
and an end, but our soul has a
beginning but no end. Whatever, my child, comes out of God's heart is
eternal, real, divine and is never lost. So,
because our soul comes out of God's heart, it is never lost and lives forever.
Our body is just our soul's home, as long as we live on this earth.
-And when our body
dies, where does our soul go?
-After the body's
death the soul goes back to its Creator.
-Will all the
souls, good and bad, be together?
-Unfortunately, no,
my child. After the body's death only
the good souls are lead by the angels to the heavenly kingdom of God our Father,
to enjoy absolute joy and happiness for eternity.
-And where do the
bad ones go?
-All the souls who
didn't want to live on earth in accordance with the fatherly advice of our God
the Father, that is with love, goodness and mercy, but preferred to live
according to the recommendations of Satan, that is with malice, hatred, envy,
jealousy, immorality and blasphemy, then horrible demons will lead them to the place of eternal grief and sorrow, which is hell.
-Oh dear, this is
so bad, daddy, for someone to live eternally in suffering and unhappiness!
-And yet, my child,
there are many people, instead of having our good God as the king of their souls,
choose the evil demon as the leader of their lives. So, instead of living with
love, trust and obedience, according to our God the Father's commandments, they
are living according to whatever Satan tells them. But, in this way they are
denying our good God as their Father and putting in His place Satan himself.
So, our Lord, Who totally respects the freedom of every man, as righteous as He
is, after their death allows the demon to take them with him into the horrific
place of hell. My son, according to
whose embrace we choose to enter into in this life, our righteous God allows us
to stay in the same embrace after our death.
-It is horrifying
that some people choose as the father and leader of their lives, the evil demon
instead of our sweet God! I would like very much, daddy, to tell all those
people to stay with absolute love and trust in the arms of our King God. To
live according to everything that our sweet Jesus taught us in His Holy Gospel,
so we can one day be happy all together in His heavenly kingdom, Paradise!
-Let's pray, my
child, to our Father God, to have mercy on all His children and that one day
your childish desire will come true!