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When we call God, "Father," it is tempting to compare God to our own experience of fatherhood.
This is often tainted by fathers who leave their families, cheat on their wives, or abuse their children.
We might think to ourselves, "If God is 'father,' he must be a terrible person!"
Yet, this is not God's fatherhood.
Pope Benedict XVI reflected on this truth of the Christian faith in a general audience in 2013.
Despite this brokenness we see around us, God remains a faithful Father.
God's fatherhood is meant to be the example of all fathers (not the other way around).
While it may seem at times that God has abandoned us, this is not true.
God is always at our side. It is often our own denial of God that makes it seem that God is distant. We don't let God into our lives, we force him out with our sins, closing our heart to his love.
If we want to know what true fatherhood is, let us recall the image of the Prodigal Son that Jesus gives in the Gospel.
God is the father who waits for us and is ready to embrace us and hold a feast in our honor.
