Once I read this phrase: “It is relatively easy for a father to forgive his son. But it is very difficult for a child to forgive his very own father”. There exists a sense of rejection of the paternal figure poured out in the environment. The current situation transmits through the atmosphere we all breathe an unwritten but persistently seductive social dogma in the minds of many: the father interfering in one´s path and causing damage and, has then to be annihilated. There are many who do not condone the disappointing experiences with regard to the human fatherhood. The “death of the Father”, at various levels – social, academic, economic, etc. – is the message registered in many. God is included there. Today it is not obvious, nor was it there perhaps in the past, to accept without problems the paternal figure.
In contrast with that reaction are the ardent words of Fr. Claret with which he declares his relationship with his Father God. They are undeniably born from a different purpose: Claret discovered God as a good Father, who always cared for him. He had the experience of the gratuity. That’s why he responds with the same coin, with the passionate love of a child. And it is a love of such a degree that he is ready to risk his life for Him in the event that he had to defend it.
What is the call of Claret for us through these words? Of course, to place God in first place. But before that we have to purify the distorted image we have of Him in our minds. If we confuse God with an authoritarian boss, demanding, punishing and controlling; or with an absent and unknown God we don´t sense, nor love, nor, of course, defend … it is clear that this is not the God that Fr. Claret discovered and to whom he entrusted his life. If God is not the most important thing, absolutely nothing is important. Those who despise God are those who don’t know Him.
What relationship do you keep with your father or with someone similar? And with God? Does the Claretian experience tell you something?