God is often referred to in masculine terms, but for what reason? How do we know God is male? Couldn’t God be female?
The simple answer is that God Himself has chosen to use masculine terms in describing His relationship to us. Indeed, when teaching us how to pray, His very first words were, “Our Father…”
But we mustn’t stop with only a shallow understanding of this matter. God is neither male nor female–because these are merely human characteristics–and God is not subject to our human genders.
But God does condescend to our human level to give us an imperfect understanding of His perfect nature. He speaks to us in our own understandable, human terms. And the one human ideal which comes closest to describing God’s relationship to mankind is that of a father.
We each receive our life from Him, we are each cared for by His providence as He sees our every action, and we are each loved by His infinite, fatherly love. He is Our Father indeed.
To stand by our heavenly mother at the foot of the Cross and ask Jesus our creator, father and redeemer where He came from would offend the infinite love and humility of His most Sacred Heart.
Fr Joseph Ward + .
Great point, Father. Thank you for commenting! š