Every day God says to us: “You are my son (daughter).” God the Father wants to embrace each of us each day with the same abandoned love, unconditional love, unmerited love.

Each of us needs to know that we are loved for who we are and not some other motive, in spite of our shortcomings and failures. When Michelangelo saw the flawed block of marble, he saw the statue of the shepherd boy David within. Everyone saw the external flawed object, the artist saw the interior treasure within. That is how God sees us as Father.

The Father believes in the prodigal son when the son doesn’t believe in himself.  Even when he purifies us and strips us, God has the vision of himself in us and seeks for our sake to bring it about, not for his sake.

The Father doesn’t possess his son but frees him to respond or not. There is always the question: why are you doing what you are doing” The Father says simply because I love you whether you accept and respond or reject and refuse. The role of the Father is love.

We can’t equate or duplicate God’s love for us, but we can imitate his love, be a reflection of his love to others.(To be continued)