Happy Father’s Day to all of our padres! I’ve often wondered if they invented Father’s Day just because they already had a Mother’s Day and didn’t want us to feel bad! It’s not easy to be a father! After all, mothers, whom we love with all our hearts, get a pretty clear job description: have babies, feed them, change their diapers. But fathers… we can’t have babies, and we aren’t very good at changing diapers. So how does a father be a father?
Well, we begin by changing diapers, even if we are not very good at it. We hold our wives’ hands as they give birth to our children, and we make them comfortable while they are nursing our sons and daughters. In other words: support. We provide support for mothers and children behind the scenes; we appear when needed to defend their honor and safety. Fatherless America is probably our greatest social problem, but the solution is as close as the nearest Bible.
The Bible shows us St. Joseph, the great father of the Church and our particular patron this year, consecrated to St. Joseph. He quietly provided for Mary and Jesus, even though he was neither a biological father nor a carnal spouse. He took responsibility for his wife and child. He instantly and unquestioningly obeyed God rather than insisting on his own plans. (“Take the child and his mother to Egypt….Joseph arose immediately and took the child and his mother to Egypt.”).
Today’s Scriptures speak to us of planting seeds. While Jesus is sending the apostles to the lost sheep: “As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.” Every man’s dream—is to grow children as tall and straight as majestic cedars. Every man’s dream—to bring home an abundant harvest. Every man’s dream—to build a spacious home, in whose branches many children find shelter.
Fathers/Brothers: it is one thing to plant the seed, and quite another to cultivate it. God gives us the seed, but he also gives us the strength to cultivate our little plants. Fatherhood is a lifelong vocation from God. He gives the increase, but he enlists our manly strength and joy to rear the children. Fathers/Brothers: the single best thing you can do for your children is to bring them to Mass every Sunday, with their mother.
I pray for my father every day, especially when I pray the rite of preparation “Sanctify this offering, and through it, grant forgiveness of sins and pardon of faults to those for whom it is offered, and to me, and to my parents… وَقَدِّسْ هٰذِهِ التَقْدِمَة، و امْنَحْ بِها غُفْرَانَ الخَطايا وَمَحْوَ الذُنُوبِ لِمَنْ تُقَدَّمُ مِنْ أَجْلِهِمْ، وَلِي وَلِوَالِدَيَّ...
God has entrusted his own fatherhood to our earthly fathers, beginning with St. Joseph. May God grant our fathers wisdom and strength. May we honor them, in gratitude to God.
