
Devotion to God the Father
As Communicated to Mother Eugenia Ravasio
Can God the Father Appear to Someone?
Let us consider, Sacred Scripture, the Doctors of the Church and the lives of the Saints, and in this same order
Sacred Scripture
St John the beloved disciple and Apostle of Our Lord Jesus Christ wrote in his first letter; "No one has ever seen God". (1 John 4:12)
However, one has to be careful of picking out any particular sentence out of context or without a full appreciation of the whole of the Bible. An example of this is Our Lord's phrase, "If your hand should cause you to sin cut it off." Now if this was carried out according to the letter with a literal interpretation most of us would, no doubt, be without our hands, our feet, our eyes and our tongue! Of course the meaning behind the words is what is important: the call of Jesus for a radical departure from anything which would keep us from God or threaten our eternal salvation.
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So it is when St John in his first letter, 1:4:12 states,"No one has ever seen God" , we must consider this statement in the light of all the Bible, and try to go deeper to understand the point that the beloved Apostle is saying.
What John is rightly saying, is that no one has ever seen the full unbridled glory of God in all its splendour and power, and lived. But this statement from John, does not preclude the possibility of veiled manifestations of God, which have in fact taken place and recorded in various passages in the Old Testament.
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Indeed the Bible does recount numerous instances whereby people saw what we would interpret to be veiled manifestations by God, of a similar nature perhaps, to the manifestation to Sr Eugenia. Let us recount a few. In doing so we take with us the insight of the Beloved Apostle and understand that these people were not seeing God in His full glory and magnificence, after all "who could see God and live."
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Jacob - Jacob saw Yahweh face to face during his wrestle with God. Jacob changed the name of the place where this happened to “Peniel”. “Jacob named the place Peniel ‘Because I have seen God face to face and have survived’. Genesis 32:31.
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Abraham - At the Oak of Mamre, Abraham saw Yahweh God face-to-face as described in Genesis 18.
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Abram – Abram saw Yahweh and bowed to the ground as Yahweh changed his name to Abraham, and Sarai’s name to Sarah, and gave him His covenant (including reference to circumcision) and the promise of a son from Sarah. Genesis 17.
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Moses – In the last paragraph of Deuteronomy, Moses is referred to as “the man whom Yahweh knew face to face.” Deuteronomy 34:10.
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Seventy Elders and Moses, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu – Seventy Elders along with Moses, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu “went up, and they saw the God of Israel beneath whose feet there was what looked like a sapphire pavement pure as the heavens themselves, but he did no harm to the Israelite notables, they actually gazed on God and then ate and drank.” Exodus 24: 9-11.
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All Israelites – Scott Hahn states in his book that ALL the Israelites (more than two million people) were invited, and intended by Yahweh, to see God face to face on Mt Horeb but they declined the opportunity out of fear.
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Doctors of Church Say it is Possible:
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At least two Doctors of the Catholic Church, Saint Irenaeus and Saint Thomas Aquinas have declared in clear terms that it is possible for a person to see Father God under certain circumstances.
Saint Thomas Aquinas :-
With respect to people being able to see Father God, Saint Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologiae 111, Q39, art 8, states this is possible under certain circumstances. Thomas makes a clear distinction between “Apparition” and “Mission”. In this way Saint Thomas would believe that people like Eugenia would see Yahweh if Yahweh is on a “Mission”. The Message given to Eugenia is certainly part of a Mission by The Father to show His Love for us children. This thinking of Saint Thomas is referred to in the long Testimony of Grenoble’s Bishop in which the Bishop explains in complete detail why he believes in the authenticity of The Message after the 10 year investigation.
Saint Irenaeus:-
Saint Irenaeus, commenting on the words of the Prophets that “No one shall see God and live”, clearly stated in his writings “Adversus haeresis” that:
“The Father is incomprehensible, but because of His love and kindness, and because all things are possible with Him, He concedes even this to those who love Him: that is, to see God, even as the Prophets prophesied. For things that are impossible with men are possible with God. Man does not by his own power see God. But if He wills it, He is seen by men – by whom He wills it, when He wills it, and in the manner in which He wills it. God is powerful in all things ------”
(Ref: Book: ”The Faith of the Early Fathers” Volume 1 by William A Jurgens Page 96)
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St Margaret Mary "saw" the Father
St Margaret Mary had a vision of the Holy Trinity, and saw a manifestation of God the Father as a "Person", and He, God the Father spoke to her. This is recorded by herself and so it is a first hand testimony which you will find in her Biography: The Autobiography of Saint Margaret Mary by St Margaret Mary, Article 59, page 72, Tan Books, 1986
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The Servant of God Sr Lucia "saw" the Father
The servant of God Sr Lucia, the eldest of the Visionaries of Fatima had a dramatic vision of the Trinity in which God the Father was manifest as an individual Person. An artists representation of this vision is shown below:
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