Last time we spoke on what revelation tells us about the essence and perfections of God.
Today we will speak on God again, but especially as He is known in His First Person, namely, “God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.”

Now our Catholic faith teaches that God is one supreme Being who dwells in three Divine Persons.  God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit are not three gods, but three Divine Persons in one Divine Nature.  The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Father, the Holy Spirit is not the Father nor the Son.  While remaining distinct each Person of the Blessed Trinity shares equally in the Divine Nature.  (An explanation of how the Trinity may be likened  to the spoken word or a fountain.)  The Trinity remains, however, a great mystery.  We could not know of it without divine revelation; nor can we comprehend it after its revelation.

When we speak of the First Person of the Blessed Trinity, God the Father, we speak of God most directly.  We will consider this thought in light of the principality, fatherhood, and unbegotten nature of the heavenly Father.

* What do we mean by the principality of God the Father?  We mean that God the Father proceeds from no one; rather, He is the source of procession for the other members in the Trinity.  For this reason, St Augustine calls the Father, “the principle of the whole God-head.”

A principle (beginning) is that from which a thing proceeds in any manner whatsoever.  All three Persons of the God are principles, for all creatures proceed from each Person and from the Father and the Son does the Holy Spirit proceed.  God the Father, however, is the principle of the Trinity alone for He himself proceeds from no one.  This does not mean He is greater than the other Persons but rather that they differ in relationship to each other.  As one author puts it, as sunlight in the morning, the beginning or principle of light, is not greater than that of the day, so is the Father not greater than the Son.

* What do we mean by the fatherhood of God the Father?   We mean that God the Father is most identified as having a special care for His creation.   Our Savior spoke of this in His Sermon on the Mount, “Behold the birds of the air, for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns: and your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you of much more value than they? ...your Father knows that you have need of these things.  Seek therefore first the kingdom of God, and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Mt 6).   Moreover, when our Lord instructs us to pray to God, whom does He say we petition but “Our Father who art in heaven...” (Mt 6:9).  Examples could be multiplied, but it is sufficient here to see scripture often invokes God as a Father as in today’s epistle from St. Paul, “I bend my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth receives it name, that He may grant you from His glorious riches...” (Eph 3:14-15).

God is truly a Father Who most distinguishes Himself through His Fatherhood.  He brings forth creation from nothing; He sustains creation in existence.  “God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth” is the brief statement wherein we acknowledge the supreme power and goodness of God and a special care over creatures.

But more than being a Father of creation, the First Person of the Blessed Trinity is called God the Father because He begets the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity.  This reality signifies the ultimate effect of His Person.  The Son does not father Himself, but the Father fathers the Son. The Son proceeds eternally from the Father; forever does the Father beget the Son.  The Divine intellect of the First Person continuously begets an exact replica of Himself who is the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity.

* What do we mean by the unbegotten nature of God the Father?  We mean that the Father simply is; the Father does not draw His source from another.  In the purest use of the word: the First Person of the Blessed Trinity is unbegotten.  God the Son is begotten through the Father; the Holy Spirit is not begotten but proceeds from the Father and the Son as from a principle.

Put another way, while we do say ‘Son of God’ or ‘Holy Spirit of God’ we do not say ‘Father of God.’  Father and God are synonymous in neither having been begotten. 

In summary, when we recite the Creed we assent to the truth that God, the Father Almighty, is Creator of heaven and earth.  This is not because the Second or Third Persons of the Trinity had nothing to do with creation, but rather that creation is most attributed (appropriated) to the First Person of the Blessed Trinity; God the Father is Creator in His Person while God the Son is Creator through His Divinity.  Again, we see that God and Father are synonymous.

The synonymous association of God and the Father Almighty has kept the Church from composing a feast in honor of the First Person of the Blessed Trinity.  Pope Innocent XII absolutely refused a petition of some faithful who wanted a feast to honor God the Father.  Pope Leo XIII in Divinum Illud Munus (Encyclical on the Holy Ghost, 1897) provides the reason, “lest from distinguishing the Persons men should be led to distinguish the Divine Essence.”  Concern to maintain the concept of God as Unity in Trinity, Pope John XXII promoted the feast of the Most Holy Trinity to the universal Church.   By these liturgical decisions the faithful are kept from confusing the unbegotten nature of the Father as superior in dignity to the other Divine Persons.

A final consideration:
The Muslims call God “Allah” which means Master.  In their relationship to God Muslims are slaves.  Christians call God “Father;” blasphemy to the ears of a Muslim.  Indeed, so closely does God call us to share in His divine life that He calls us His children. 

When we pray the line in the creed, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth” we should rouse in our souls like children a spirit of humility, confidence, and reverence.  Humility, because without God we are nothing; confidence, because God always provides our true necessities; reverence, because the rights of God must always come first and too often human respect keeps us from behaving towards Him as we ought.

But of all these, confidence now comes most to mind.  Sometimes a mother overly worries what will happen to her children should she die.  Such a fear reveals a lack of trust in God and lack of belief in “God, the Father Almighty.”  For if God has really created the world from nothing, and even now holds it in existence, and provides my true needs, then it remains He does not need me - I need Him.  What will happen to my children if I should die?  God, the Father Almighty, who raises the dead to life, will take care of them.  We must think of this often to banish undue worry of an early death from our mind;... I may also think, “if God now were to call me from His created earth it may be because I am ready to join Him in His heaven.”