God Our Father... And Our Mother?!

[Piccoli Fiori JMJ]

I have no clue what kind of priests I have, I just hope that our pastor can, well, step down from his "pillar" so to speak

[p0lar_bear]

[quote name='Sinner' date='Jul 19 2004, 11:00 PM'] Polar Bear,
I read the book recently....... and I really admire that painting. But when he got to the place about telling the Father/Mother aspect......
I was really uncomfortable. Ok God has masculine and feminine traits.... But He is Father and Mother???? Give me a break. [/quote]
Nouwen wasn't the only one to talk about the feminine and masculine hands...


Anyway, we do need to acknowledge that God has feminine traits as well as masculine. Psalms has many maternal references to God.

God has revealed Himself as Father, and we should not only recognize and respect that, but also consider what meaning that has. While we should not refer to God as Mother, neither should we go to the other extreme of avoiding any maternal reference.

I'm definitely not advocating changing to feminine pronouns or avoiding pronouns altogether...I just want to try to avoid the reactionary response many tend to have in the face of the radical femininism that has be trying to emphasis the feminine qualities for God for the wrong reasons.

[Good Friday]

[quote name='Catechism of the Catholic Church #239']By calling God "Father," the language of faith indicates two main things: that God is the first origin of everything and transcendent authority; and that he is at the same time goodness and loving care for all his children. God's parental tenderness can also be expressed in the image of motherhood, [Cf. Isa 66:13; Ps 131:2] which emphasizes God's immanence, the intimacy between Creator and creature. The language of faith thus draws on the human experience of parents, who are in a way the first representatives of God for man. But this experience also tells us that human parents are fallible and can disfigure the face of fatherhood and motherhood. We ought therefore to recall that God transcends the human distinction between the sexes. He is neither man nor woman: he is God. He also transcends human fatherhood and motherhood, although he is their origin and standard [Cf. Ps 27:10; Eph 3:14; Isa 49:15] no one is father as God is Father.[/quote]
Bl. Julian of Norwich referred to God's motherly characteristics, as did St. Hildegard of Bingen and several other mystics. Pope John Paul I and Pope John Paul II have both said that God is also Mother.

Edited July 21, 2004 by Good Friday