My Dearest Daddy!

Saint John 6:51-58

In one of Puccini’s great operas, there is a beautiful aria in which the Soprano sings to her Father, whom she dearly loves: "O Mio Babbino Caro," it begins.

Translation: My Dearest Daddy!"

Dr. Wilfred Funk, the Author of many dictionaries was once asked to list the ten most expressive words in the English Language. He replied as follows:

• The most bitter word is "alone."
• The most reverent is "Mother."
• The most tragic is "death"
• The most beautiful is "love"
• The most cruel is "revenge"
• The most peaceful is "tranquil"
• The saddest is "forgotten."
• The warmest is "friendship"
• The coldest is "no"
• And the most comforting is "faith"

Now let’s add one more word to that list. What is the most profound word in the English Language? If we look to the New Testament for guidance, the word "Father" quickly comes to mind. "Father" is the word image Jesus used to express God and His relationship to God, and our relationship to God.

"Father" is Jesus’ way of expressing God in prayer. In the four Gospels, Jesus uses the word for God no less than one hundred and seventy times.

The word "Father" is so profound that if we discard it or ignore it for whatever reason, we are cutting the heart out of the life and teachings of Jesus.

Jesus said to His Disciples, "Our Father who art in Heaven." This is Jesus’ way of thinking about God and inviting us to think about God.

When Jesus invites you to address God as "Father," the actual word He uses is the Aramaic word "Abba." In the Aramaic, Abba is a very special word – a word of the most passionate, loving intimacy. It is also special in its informality. And this is an astonishing gift God is offering you in the form of the word "Abba." He is inviting you to be with God as with a dear beloved Father – a Father who cherishes you and cares for you because you are you.

Actually, the word "Abba" is extremely difficult to translate into a single English word. The word "Daddy" doesn’t seem quite appropriate, but, as a one-word translation, it comes at least as close to the meaning of "Abba" as any other.

In any case, learning to address God reverently and confidently as "Abba" – "Father" – can be a turning point in your life, a profound, liberating experience.

In the Old Testament Book of Deuteronomy, it is written, "The Eternal God is your Dwelling Place, and underneath are the Everlasting Arms."

An Eagle is teaching its young how to fly. The ceremony begins with the destruction of the nest. The old Eagle tears it up and throws the pieces over the cliff. Then she takes the little Eaglet and circling, carries it high into the sky. She tilts her wings and drops him off into space.

Fluttering, screeching, screaming, the Eaglet drifts down. The old Eagle circles around him and, long before he reaches the sharp crags and rocks below, she glides under him and clutches him on her broad wings.

Two or three times she repeats this, as if to say, "See, you cannot fall, for underneath are my everlasting wings."

We change the picture only slightly and we make it say, "Underneath are the Everlasting Arms of God, our Father."

There are times when life is too much for us and we cannot keep our spirits up, and we are wounded and sick at heart, and we need desperately to experience the loving embrace of the Everlasting Arms of God.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus says, "No one can come to Me unless drawn by the Father who sent Me; and I will raise that person up on the last day.

It is written in the Prophets, and they shall all be taught by God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me" (John 6:44,45).

And, in today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus says, "Just as the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats Me will live because of Me (Saint John 6:57).

Jesus wants you to know that your Heavenly Father brought you into this world for a purpose.

Jesus wants you to know that you are part of your Heavenly Father’s plan for the fulfillment of all creation.

Jesus wants you to know that you are all that important to God.

Jesus wants you to know that whatever condition your life may be in at present, you will overcome. You will achieve the victory, because God, your Loving Father, is with you.

Jesus wants you to experience the wonder of addressing God as your "Father," from the bottom of your heart.

Jesus wants you to watch in wonder as all the debris you’ve been carrying with you – the anxieties, the fears, the resentments, begin to slip away.

Jesus wants you to experience the liberating power of drawing closer and closer to Your Heavenly Father in this way.

You can begin now. You can begin now a new way of looking at yourself, a new way of relating to God, and to each other. A new way of experiencing the wonder of God loving you so much and inviting you into His life of love.

A Father and his teenage Son were frequently at odds over those things that Fathers and Sons often disagree about. It seemed that the two could hardly say anything to each other without getting into a shouting match …

Finally, the Father proposed that they go on a Camping Trip, just the two of them.

So they went off to a Mountain, two hundred miles from Home. And for two weeks, Father and Son forged swift streams together, climbed over huge boulders together, traveled through thick brush together, walked under the silent stars together, and talked, and talked, and talked. And they began to know each other as never before. They began to see each other not just in their usual roles of domineering Father and rebellious Son, but as genuine human persons, each with his own hopes and fears and loves.

The trip up the mountain became a turning point in their relationship.

In the years that followed, they continued to disagree on many things, but on different terms. When a problem loomed, one or the other would say,

"remember the mountain."

An ordinary mountain became their glory mountain… out of the ordinary there emerged a mountaintop experience.

God, our Heavenly Father, wants our relationship with Him to be the ultimate mountaintop experience.

Jesus has given us the image He wants us to have of our God …

"Abba" … "Our Father" … "O Mio Babbino Caro"

O, my Dearest Daddy, hallowed be Your Name!

Thanks be to God!!!!!

Amen!!!