The Father

The Father is the first Person of the Trinity. He is the origin without origin: himself without beginning, he is the source from whom the Son and the Spirit come. Everything proceeds from him, in the life of God as in creation. Saint Paul confesses him as the principle of all things: “For us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist.” 1 Corinthians 8:6

The Creator of all things

The one God creates heaven and earth, and the Creed refers this work to the Father first, because he is the origin of all. He calls the world into being by his word alone, and holds it in life at every moment: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1

The Father watches over what he has made with an attentive providence, down to the smallest detail. Christ teaches this confidence toward him: “Not one sparrow falls to the ground apart from your Father.” Matthew 10:29

Source within the Trinity

In the very life of God, the Father is the source of the two other Persons. He begets the Son from all eternity, communicating to him the divine life he possesses, and the Spirit proceeds from him and from the Son. The Father grants the Son to have life in himself as he himself possesses it: “As the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself.” John 5:26

Revealed by the Son

The Father makes himself known through the Son, who alone knows him perfectly and reveals him to men: “No one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” Matthew 11:27

In seeing the Son, one sees the Father, for the Son is his perfect image and acts in all things as he does: “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” John 14:9

Our Father

The Father is Father of the only Son from all eternity, and he becomes the Father of men by adopting them. Through the grace received in baptism, the Spirit of the Son is given to the believer, who can then address God as his Father: “You have received a Spirit of filial adoption, by which we cry: Abba, Father!” Romans 8:15 This is why Christ taught his own to pray saying “Our Father.”

This Father welcomes the sinner who returns and goes out to meet him, as the father of the parable runs toward his lost son: “While he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and threw his arms around him and kissed him.” Luke 15:20