DARE TO SAY “ABBA”

“If they ask me, ‘What is His name?’ what am I to tell them?” —Exodus 3:13

Moses asked God to reveal His name. Several hundred years after making Abraham the father of the nation of Israel, the Lord told His chosen people His name. God said that His name was “I AM WHO AM” (Ex 3:14). God called Himself the supreme, eternal Being Who is the Cause of all being. God’s name is extremely mysterious and holy.

Well over a millennium later, Jesus, the Son of God, told us how to address God. We were no longer to think of God as only the great I AM. We were also to address Him as “Abba,” that is, “Daddy” (Lk 11:2; Mt 6:9). This was more than shocking. It was apparently blasphemous. The only justification for saying such a thing was that Jesus, “true God from true God,” told us we could dare to do this.

Therefore, address God as “Abba.” This means He has adopted you as His child. You are chosen and loved. He has made you “a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people He claims for His own” (1 Pt 2:9). With and in Christ, you are an heir of Abba’s kingdom (Rm 8:17). The whole world has stopped and been transformed because Jesus told us to call God “Abba.”

PRAYER: Abba…
PROMISE: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” –Mt 11:28, RSV-CE
PRAISE: St. Camillus de Lellis initially followed in his father’s footsteps, living a dissolute lifestyle. His father repented on his deathbed and received last rites. Camillus was shaken by the ordeal, thus beginning his journey to sainthood. He devoted his life to the care of the sick and was ordained to the priesthood at the age of thirty-four years. He founded an order of priests to carry on his mission.