103rd Meditation on God the Father
“I also desire that every family prominently display the picture I will later show to My “little daughter”. I wish every family to be able to place itself under My special protection in this way, so that they can honour Me more easily” (Father’s message to Sr. Eugenia Ravasio).
The Father satisfies our human need to see and feel. Just as we often place pictures and photos of our loved ones in our home to make it easier to remember them, so our Father wants us to place an image of Him in our home. It should help us to be aware that in all our actions He is present and offers us His protection. Especially for children it will be helpful to look again and again at the image of God the Father and to know that He is watching over their lives.
St. Benedict, the Abbot, exhorted his monks to do everything in the presence of God, and St. Teresa of Avila taught her sisters to pray the Divine Office while being aware of the presence of the Lord.
Our Father’s great desire is to have a trusting and intimate relationship with us. It must become natural and simple for us. After the fall into sin we lost this closeness to God and our Father wants to restore it in every possible way. Thus, an image of Him will also make it easier for us to remember Him and to keep in mind His loving care, which accompanies and guides our life.
Of course our Father is always present and we carry Him in our hearts, even if we do not have a visible image of Him. But in our Catholic Church we find in many areas, elements that make our faith tangible, such as the magnificent frescoes in a church or the statues representing angels and saints. What would a church or even a home be without a Crucifix and an image of the Virgin Mary? Wouldn’t the atmosphere be too sober and cold? Shouldn’t our gaze rest with pleasure on a beautiful and moving representation of our Crucified Lord?
In this way, visible images help us to become more aware of God’s invisible presence and to feel “at home” in God’s family.