Today's Gospel

The Forgotten God

Welcome to your daily gospel reflection. Today's Gospel is from John chapter 12:44-50. And Jesus cried out and said, "He who believes in me believes not in me, but in Him who sent me. And he who sees me sees him who sent me. I have come as light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. If anyone hears my sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him, for I did not come to judge, but to save the world. He who rejects me and does not receive my sayings has a judge. The word that I have spoken will be his judge on the last day. For I have not spoken on my own authority. The Father who sent me has Himself given me commandment what to say and what to speak. And I know that His commandment is eternal life. What I say therefore, I say as the Father has bidden me."

What jumps out at you today? The word that jumps out at me today is Father. I think we talk a lot about Jesus. We talk about the Holy Spirit, probably not anywhere near enough, but we do talk about the Holy Spirit. We speak surprisingly little about God the Father, and I find this fascinating.

And I also find it as a great opportunity for this moment in history, because we live in a fatherless time. We live in a time when there's great confusion about what does it mean to be a man? What does it mean to be a father? And so many people have had bad experiences with their earthly fathers. And so their ability to envision God as Father is wounded by that or crippled by that. But I want to encourage you today to think about God as Father, to have a conversation in prayer with God as Father, who created you, who has an amazing plan for your life, no matter where you are right now, no matter how dark or desperate it might seem. He has an amazing plan for your life. And he wants to take care of us. He wants to nurture us. He wants to provide for us. And that's really a beautiful thing, a very profound thing.

Maybe something else jumped out at you today, but either way, encourage you to have that conversation with God today as Father. And see, how is your prayer different when you pray to God as Father rather than praying to Jesus as Son or to the Holy Spirit? Have an amazing day. Remember, be bold, be Catholic.