Scripture on the Divine Heart of God the Father

The Heart of God the Father in Christianity is indicated by 27 specific references in Sacred Scripture (Bartolo-Abela, 2012), with 26 of these references being in the Old Testament, whereas one of the references is in the New Testament (Bovenmars, 1991). Many of these references exist in all three major sources of Scripture including the Septuagint (LXX), the Masoretic text and the Latin Vulgate. A few of the references could be considered doubtful because of their presence in only one of the aforementioned sources.

The 27 references in Scripture which speak about the Heart of the Father are: 

  1. Gn 6:6-7 (Vulgate, LXX);
  2. Gn 8:21 (Masoretic);
  3. Jb 7:17 (Vulgate, Masoretic);
  4. Jb 9:4 (Vulgate, Masoretic);
  5. Jb 10:11-13 (Vulgate, Masoretic);
  6. Ps 32:11 (Vulgate) / 33:11 (LXX, Masoretic);
  7. Ps 77:70-72 (Vulgate, Masoretic) / 78:70-72 (LXX);
  8. Is 63:4 (Vulgate, Masoretic);
  9. Jer 3:14-15 (Vulgate, LXX, Masoretic);
  10. Jer 7:30-31 (Vulgate, LXX);
  11. Jer 19:5 (LXX);
  12. Jer 23:20 (Vulgate, LXX, Masoretic);
  13. Jer 30:24 (Vulgate, LXX, Masoretic);
  14. Jer 32:35 (Vulgate);
  15. Jer 32:41 (Vulgate, Masoretic) / 39:41 (LXX);
  16. Jer 44:21 (Vulgate) / 51:21 (LXX);
  17. Lam 3:33 (LXX);
  18. Ez 28:2 (Vulgate, LXX, Masoretic);
  19. Hos 11:8-9 (Vulgate, LXX, Masoretic);
  20. 1 Chr 17:19 (Vulgate, LXX, Masoretic);
  21. 2 Chr 7:16 (Vulgate, LXX, Masoretic);
  22. 1 Kgs 2:35 (Vulgate, LXX, Masoretic);
  23. 1 Kgs 13:14 (Vulgate, LXX, Masoretic);
  24. 2 Kgs 7:21 (Vulgate, LXX, Masoretic);
  25. 3 Kgs 9:3 (Vulgate, LXX, Masoretic);
  26. 4 Kgs 10:30 (Vulgate, LXX, Masoretic);
  27. Acts 13:22 (Vulgate).

References

  1. Bartolo-Abela, M. (2012). The Icon of the Divine Heart of God the Father: Apologia and Canon. East Longmeadow, MA: Apostolate of the Divine Heart.
  2. Bovenmars, J. G. (1991). Biblical spirituality of the heart. New York: Alba House.

The Father waits for His children

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“Even if your sins were as repulsive as mud, your confidence and your love will make Me forget them, so you will not be judged! I am just, it is true, but love pays for everything! . . . I make you a promise which will have an eternal effect. It is this: call Me by the name of Father, with confidence and love, and you will receive everything from this Father, with love and mercy . . . If you love Me and call Me by the sweet name of Father, you will begin to live, here and now, in the love and the trust which will make you happy in eternity and which you will sing in heaven in the company of the elect…..

“I would like to make My home in every family, as in My domain, so that all can say with absolute assurance: ‘We have a Father Who is infinitely good, infinitely rich and greatly merciful. He thinks about us and is close to us. He looks after us, supports us. He will give us everything we need if we ask Him. All his riches are ours, we will have everything we need.’ I am there precisely in order that you should ask Me for what you need. ‘Ask and you will receive.’ In My fatherly goodness I will give you everything provided that all regard Me as a true Father, living among His family as I indeed do…..

Father, I love You, I adore You, I worship You.

“You who especially need someone to take care of you in life, so that you can avoid evil, come to Me! I am the Father Who loves you more than any other creature will ever be able to do! Take refuge close, very close to Me, confide in Me your thoughts and your desires. I will love you tenderly. I will give you graces for the present and bless your future. You can be sure I will not forget you after fifteen or twenty-five or thirty years, having created you. Come! I see that you greatly need a sweet and infinitely good Father like Me…..

“I have just opened up a fountain of living water, which will never dry up from now until the end of time. I am coming to you, My creatures, to open My paternal Breast filled with love for you, My children. I want you to be witnesses of My infinite and merciful love. It is not enough for Me to have shown you My love; I also want to open up My Heart to you, whence a refreshing spring will issue and where all men will quench their thirst. They will then experience joys they have never known until now through being so weighed down by the exaggerated fear they had of Me, their tender Father…..

“Since the time when I promised men a Savior, I have let this spring gush forth. I made it pass through My Son’s Heart to reach you. But My immense love for you makes Me do even more, opening My Breast from which this water of salvation will gush for My children and I permit them to draw freely whatever they need for time and for eternity.

“But, you will say to Me, how can we come to You? Oh, come by the path of confidence, call Me your Father, love Me in spirit and truth, and this will be enough to make this refreshing and powerful water quench your thirst. But if you really want this water to give you all you need to know and love Me, and if you feel cold and indifferent, call Me by the sweet name of Father and I will come to you. My spring will give you love, confidence and everything you need to be loved forever by your Father and Creator. As I desire most to be known by all of you, so that you can all enjoy, even here on earth, My goodness and My tenderness, make yourselves apostles to those who still do not know Me and I will bless your toil and efforts, preparing great glory for you with Me in eternity…..

We love You, Father. We give ourselves to You.

“As for My children who do not follow the truth, I wish all the more to enfold them in My fatherly predilection, so that they may open their eyes to the light which now shines more clearly than ever. This is the time of graces, foreseen and awaited since the beginning of time! I am here personally to talk to you. I come as the most tender and loving of fathers. I stoop down, forgetful of Myself, to raise you up to Me and ensure your salvation. All of you who are now living and you too who are in the void, but who will live century after century until the end of the world, remember that you are not alone: a Father thinks of you and offers you a share in the unfathomable privileges of His love. Approach the spring which will gush forever from My fatherly Breast. Taste the sweetness of this health-giving water and when you have felt all its delicious power in your souls satisfying all your needs, come and cast yourselves into the ocean of My charity so as to live only in Me, to die to yourselves and to live eternally in Me…..

“Some of you, examining this work of love I am carrying out among men, will find cause for criticism and will say: ‘But don’t the missionaries, after arriving in those distant countries, talk to the non-believers about God, His goodness and His mercy? What more could they say about God, since they speak of Him all the time?’ The missionaries have spoken and still speak of God as far as they know Him, but I assure you, you do not know Me as I am because I am coming to proclaim Myself the Father of all and the most tender of fathers, in order to transform your love which has become distorted by fear. I come to make Myself similar to My creatures, to correct the idea you have of a terrifyingly just God, as I see men spending their whole lives without confiding in their only Father, Whose only wish is to make their earthly life easier and then give them a divine life in heaven. This is a proof that souls do not know Me any more than you do, not having overcome the idea you have about Me. But now I am giving you this light. Remain in the light and bring it to everybody and it will be a powerful means both to obtain conversions and to shut, if possible, the gates of hell, for I now repeat My promise, which will last forever:

“ALL THOSE WHO CALL ME BY THE NAME OF FATHER, EVEN IF ONLY ONCE, WILL NOT PERISH, BUT WILL BE SURE OF THEIR ETERNAL LIFE AMONG THE CHOSEN ONES” (The Father Speaks to His Children).

For those who want to know more

In response to questions received, for those who may want to know more about this devotion, you can find everything you need in this book:

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The Heart of God the Father in Scripture

The Heart of God the Father in Christianity is indicated by 27 specific references in Sacred Scripture (Bartolo-Abela, 2012), with 26 of these references being in the Old Testament whereas one of the references in in the New Testament (Bovenmars, 1991). Many of these references exist in all three major sources of Scripture as shown below: namely, the Septuagint (LXX), the Masoretic text and the Latin Vulgate. A few of the references could be considered doubtful because of their presence in only one of the aforementioned sources. The 27 references in Scripture which speak about the Heart of the Father are: 

  1. Gn 6:6-7 (Vulgate, LXX);
  2. Gn 8:21 (Masoretic);
  3. Jb 7:17 (Vulgate, Masoretic);
  4. Jb 9:4 (Vulgate, Masoretic);
  5. Jb 10:11-13 (Vulgate, Masoretic);
  6. Ps 32:11 (Vulgate) / 33:11 (LXX, Masoretic);
  7. Ps 77:70-72 (Vulgate, Masoretic) / 78:70-72 (LXX);
  8. Is 63:4 (Vulgate, Masoretic);
  9. Jer 3:14-15 (Vulgate, LXX, Masoretic);
  10. Jer 7:30-31 (Vulgate, LXX);
  11. Jer 19:5 (LXX);
  12. Jer 23:20 (Vulgate, LXX, Masoretic);
  13. Jer 30:24 (Vulgate, LXX, Masoretic);
  14. Jer 32:35 (Vulgate);
  15. Jer 32:41 (Vulgate, Masoretic) / 39:41 (LXX);
  16. Jer 44:21 (Vulgate) / 51:21 (LXX);
  17. Lam 3:33 (LXX);
  18. Ez 28:2 (Vulgate, LXX, Masoretic);
  19. Hos 11:8-9 (Vulgate, LXX, Masoretic);
  20. 1 Chr 17:19 (Vulgate, LXX, Masoretic);
  21. 2 Chr 7:16 (Vulgate, LXX, Masoretic);
  22. 1 Kgs 2:35 (Vulgate, LXX, Masoretic);
  23. 1 Kgs 13:14 (Vulgate, LXX, Masoretic);
  24. 2 Kgs 7:21 (Vulgate, LXX, Masoretic);
  25. 3 Kgs 9:3 (Vulgate, LXX, Masoretic);
  26. 4 Kgs 10:30 (Vulgate, LXX, Masoretic);
  27. Acts 13:22 (Vulgate).

References

  1. Bartolo-Abela, M. (2012). The Icon of the Divine Heart of God the Father: Apologia and Canon. 
  2. Bovenmars, J. G. (1991). Biblical spirituality of the heart. 

The Mystical Body of Christ – How does one become part of the Church?

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The Mystical Body of Christ – the Church

A lot of questions, contentions and assertions, often contradictory, have arisen lately about the matter of who is, or is not, part of the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ. Some have been correct. However, by far, the larger part of the contentions and assertions have all been either just partially correct or flat-out wrong. Some have been fueled by inadequate knowledge; others have been fueled by partisan denominational agendas. Misunderstandings and misrepresentations abound. Let us look, therefore, at who and what constitutes the Church.

The Church is made up of three parts: the (1) Church Triumphant, which consists of all those persons who are now in Heaven, enjoying the Divine Family in a direct manner. The (2) Church Suffering, which consists of all those souls who are still being purified in Purgatory, but who have now attained the assurance of reaching Heaven once their purification has ended. And (3) the Church Militant, the visible Church that consists of all those people on earth who are part of the Body of Christ.

How does one become part of the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church?

Entrance into the Body of Christ is through baptism of which there are three kinds: (1) the baptism of water, (2) the baptism of blood, and (3) the baptism of desire. Any person who receives any one of the above kinds of baptism is Christian, hence part of the Mystical Body of Christ (Paul VI, 1964. Lumen Gentium, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church). This is the official teaching of the universal Church, the fullness of which resides in the Catholic Church.  Continue reading “The Mystical Body of Christ – How does one become part of the Church?”

Thank You, beautiful Father

Thank You, most beautiful and infinitely loving Almighty Father, for all the graces You have given us out of the sheer goodness of Your Divine Heart. We love You, we adore You, and we worship You.

The heart of the Father: God does not desire loss of any souls

Dio non vuole la nostra condanna, ma la nostra salvezza. Dio non vuole la condanna di nessuno, qualcuno potrà dirmi che la condanna di Pilato potrebbe essere giusta, o anche di Giuda, ma invece no! Il Dio della Misericordia vuole salvare tutti, il problema è chi vuole farsi davvero entrare Dio nel cuore . . . Ecco cosa il Signore dice attraverso il profeta Ezechiele: “Forse che io ho piacere della morte del malvagio […] o non piuttosto che desista dalla sua condotta e viva?” Questo piace a Dio. Questo è il cuore di Dio, un cuore di Padre che ama e vuole che i suoi figli vivano nel bene e nella giustizia, e perciò vivano in pienezza e siano felici. Un cuore di Padre che va al di là del nostro piccolo concetto di giustizia, per aprirci agli orizzonti sconfinati della sua misericordia – Papa Francesco, Udienza Generale del 2/3/2016.

“God does not want our condemnation, but our salvation. God does not want the condemnation of anyone. Someone could tell me that the condemnation of Pilate could be considered just, or even that of Judas, but no! The God of Mercy wants to save us all, the problem is who really wants to allow God to enter into his heart . . . Here is what the Lord says through the prophet Ezekiel: “Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked […] or rather that he desists from his evil ways and live?” This is what is pleasing to God. This is the heart of God, the heart of a Father who loves and wants that His children live in goodness and justice, thus live in fullness and become happy. The heart of a Father who goes beyond our narrow concept of justice, to open up for us the boundless horizons of His mercy” – Pope Francis, General Audience on 2/3/2016 in Saint Peter’s Square, Vatican City.

What is the Divine Will of God? Response to a question

The question was asked, “What is the Divine Will of God?” The brief answer is very simple: that we return to live habitually in the Divine Heart of God our Father.

More on the Divine Will of the Almighty Father can be found here.