THE FATHER’S LOVE AND SALVATION HISTORY (GOD’S STORY: MAN’S GUIDE TO LIFE’S BIG QUESTION)

There is richness when one speaks of the Father’s love. The very nature of God the
Father, as the first person in the Trinity, is love. God’s nature of love is shown throughout the
story of salvation and thus revealed by Jesus. St. John affirms that God is love: the very being of
God is love.1

The love of God Father is experienced by man as a Father who loves his children. Even
in the Trinity, the relationship of the Father towards the Son is being a father. Jesus has affirmed
this being God as his father when Jesus has called God as his father.2

In the course of history, God revealed himself to Israel as the one abounding in steadfast
love and faithfulness.3 The Father has shown his people not only kindness, goodness, grace, and
steadfast love. Even in the course of time, despite the infidelities of the people of Israel, God’s
love for Israel is likened also to a father who loves his son. God’s love will be victorious over
even the worst infidelities and will extend to his most precious gift of giving his only Son to the
world.4 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son” (John 3: 16).

The love of the Father is manifested and lived in the person of Jesus, His son. “This is
how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might
live through him” (1 John 4:9). Jesus presents and describes the Father’s love in many images. In
John 3:16, the Father’s Love Is Sacrificial; He has given His son as a sacrifice for the sins of
men. In the account of Matthew 18: 12 - 14, the Father is seen to leave the ninety-nine sheep to
look for the lost sheep. The Father treats this lost sheep, or man, as if he is the only one there is.5
In Matthew chapters 6 and 7, the Father is seen as a giver to his son. The father knows already
what one needs even before asking him and gives his children the best gifts. The Catechism
teaches that “God reveals his fatherly omnipotence by the way he takes care of our needs.” 6 Thus,
the first and greatest gift that is given is that men and women become children of the Heavenly
Father through faith in Jesus Christ, is the Holy Spirit.7

Among the many images and descriptions of Jesus describing and living the love of the
God the Father, the rich image of this love is seen in the parable of the Prodigal Son in the

1 Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 221.

2 John Murray, “The Father's Love,” Westminster Theological Seminary, November 17, 2017, Accessed
on: August 18, 2021, https://faculty.wts.edu/posts/the-fathers-love/.

3 Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 214.

4 Ibid, no. 219.

5 Nick Lincoln, “7 Beautiful Verses About the Fathers Love,” Abide and Seek: Growing Together in Jesus,
accessed August 18, 2021, https://abideandseek.com/7-beautiful-verses-about-the-fathers-love/.

6 Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 270.

7 Ibid.
account of Saint Luke. In the parable, the image of a Father who truly loves his children is
unfathomable. The story escalates upon the return of the prodigal son thinking that he will
become one of his father’s servants. However, the father welcomes the son with an opened-arm
acceptance.8 There is another side of the story towards the elder brother. The father has gone also
to the elder son as he did to the younger son. The parable then is not an allegory but experiencing
the heavenly joy and sees the father as God and places oneself in the story.

The Bible refers to God as Father many times. While this title is often used in prayer and
teaching, some Christians struggle to perceive God as Father. The concept of fatherhood of God
springs from the experiences of man from their human parents. Many of our fathers may not
have lived a perfect life that will present the love of God. This is why Tradition says that one
must go beyond one’s earthly experiences and memories of fatherhood when one prays, “Our
Father.” For though He is a provider, begetter, and protector, God is more unlike than like any
human father, patriarch, or paternal figure.9 The Catechism puts it this way: “God our Father
transcends the categories of the created world. To impose our own ideas in this area ‘upon him’
would be to fabricate idols to adore or pull down. To pray to the Father is to enter into his
mystery as he is and as the Son has revealed him to us.”10

On a personal level, understanding the concept of the love of God truly springs from the
experience of one. The first experience of love that I have is felt by the love and care that has
been given to me by my parents. From the day of my birth up to this day, even as a grown-up
man and a religious at that, my mom is still showing her care to me the best way she can. As for
my dad, when he was still alive, dad never held back his love toward me and my siblings. I was
not a perfect son or a good son then, so I complained a lot and rebelled against him.
Nevertheless, the love and care of my dad never wavered. He still cared and provided for me the
best that he could. As mentioned in the previous points, the unconditional love, the Father’s love,
is a love that embraces his son setting no conditions, but simply the father pours his love to his
son.

The love of God, the Father, towards humanity sets no conditions and boundaries. God
simply loves. The unconditional and selfless love of God is always in action throughout history
and until today. Thus, the everlasting love of the Father is expressed beautifully in the words of
the Prophet Jeremiah that the Father has always been loving with an everlasting love.11

8 The Collegeville Bible Commentary, ed. Dianne Bergant, CSA and Robert J. Karris, OFM (Metro
Manila: St. Pauls, 1994), 964.

9 Scott Hahn, “Our Father: Understanding the Fatherhood of God,” St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology,
June 17, 2020, https://stpaulcenter.com/our-father-understanding-the-fatherhood-of-god/.

10 Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2779.

11 Cf. Jeremiah 31: 3.