GOD FATHER/MOTHER

Rembrandt – The Return of the Prodigal Son

The Father is not simply a great patriarch. He is mother as well as farther. He touches the son with a masculine hand and a feminine hand. He holds, and she caresses. He confirms and she consoles. He is, indeed, God in whom both manhood and womanhood, fatherhood and motherhood, are fully present. That gentle caressing right hand echoes for me the words of the prophet Isaiah: “Can a woman forget her baby at the breast, feel no pity for the child she has borne? Even if these were to forget, I shall not forget you. Look, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.”

Henri J.M. Nouwen in “The Return of the Prodigal Son”