Saturday June 14, 2025

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“We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.” (Luke 2:21)

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Good News Reflection for:

Saturday of the 10th Week of Ordinary Time
June 14, 2025

Today’s Readings:

2 Corinthians 5:14-21
Psalm 103:1-4, 9-12
Luke 2:41-51
bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/061425.cfm
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
bible.usccb.org/podcasts/audio/daily-mass-reading-podcast-june-14-2025

Do you trust God the Father as a true friend?

I had a wonderful relationship with Jesus since my earliest childhood, as far back as I can recall. I grew up believing that Jesus was my Best Friend. When I felt lonely, I turned to Jesus. When I felt misunderstood by my father, Jesus sat with me in my room while I cried on my bed. When I forgot a homework deadline and felt panicked and sick to my stomach about it, I knew that Jesus loved me anyway. He encouraged me to do better, building my confidence (not my guilt).

God the Father, on the other hand, could increase my guilt (a mistaken idea). I thought of Him as The Big Disciplinarian. I reasoned that, because I got enough discipline from my dad, why should I spend any time with God the Father? My parents didn’t offer me friendship, so it never occurred to me that I could have a friendship with God as my Father. Jesus was the one for that.

However, the reason why Jesus calls us “friends” is because, as scripture tells us (John 15:15) He learned this from his Father. In fact, everything He taught he learned from the Father. Jesus made known to us what the Father had made known to Him: WE. ARE. THE. FATHER’S. FRIENDS.

Let me put this another way. Jesus had a friendship with His Father — not just a sonship. And what Jesus had, Jesus gave. If we are a friend of Jesus, it should be easy to experience friendship with the Father. But this was unimaginable to me.

Like many who are reading this, I never experienced a close friendship with my dad. The idea of confiding in him, and feeling heard and understood like I experienced with my true friends — this was a concept that was so foreign to me, I didn’t even imagine it.

So, neither could I imagine that God the Father could be a friend.

The spiritual director I met with when I became an adult recognized the importance of this problem. She led me through a visualization in which Jesus introduced me to the True Father. In my prayer-imagination, I “saw” Jesus greet me at the door to the throne room of God. He opened the door and invited me in. I walked on a red carpet crossing over a vast, shiny floor. Then I arrived at the base of an enormous throne.

Sitting on the throne was a very big Father. I expected a stern expression. But He was smiling at me! Then, with the gentlest of voices, He invited me to sit on His lap. How could I? He was too large. He offered to lift me up, and when I gave Him my hand, suddenly He seemed very reachable. The next moment, He cuddled me like a beloved child. I could feel the fabric of His kingly garments. I could feel the warmth of His chest against my cheek. I could feel the love in His heart. No question about it: I was loved. I was His beloved little girl.

That experience was the beginning of a Father-daughter friendship that has deepened ever since. It was the first step in the healing of my image of God’s Fatherhood. There have been many other milestones along the way. And knowing how important this is for everyone, I put it into a book, The Father’s Heart @ tothefathersheart.com.

© 2025 by Terry A. Modica

P.S. If you see God the Father as a Punisher who’s always on the look-out for you to do wrong so that He can slap you on the knuckles and ground you in your room of misery, you’re believing in a false god. When Jesus died on the cross for you, He took the punishment you deserve for your sins. When the Father gazes upon you now, He sees your sins nailed to the cross and He sees you as the beautiful gem He designed you to be. Good News Ministries has a WordByte for you about this: wordbytes.org/suffering/false-god-of-punishment.

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