A Blessed Father’s Day!

A Blessed Father’s Day!

 

One card company reportedly used to sell seven times more cards for Mother’s Day than for Father’s Day.  Mother’s Day used to be second to Christmas Day for the highest number of telephone calls.  But Father’s Day used to hold the record for the highest number of collect calls.  Father’s Day and Mother’s day are really very much alike, except that we might end up buying a much cheaper gift on Father’s Day.

 

St John Paul II in Familiaris Consortio  re-affirmed that mothers and fathers are equal in dignity and responsibility. “Complementary” describes the relationship between fatherhood and motherhood.

 

The celebration of Father’s Day was inspired by the spirit of sacrifice of fathers who loved and cared for their families.  Father’s Day is a celebration of the unselfish love and dedication of fathers in raising their children. On this Father’s Day, let us commend to the Lord our respective fathers and all father figures including stepfathers, uncles, grandfathers and other adult male friends for showing and making us feel God’s fatherly love for us. On this Father’s Day, it is so proper to express to our God our appreciation for this gift of fatherhood in our world.  We have to be thankful for all father figures who have provided us with love and care in our efforts towards growth and maturity.  In a way, our concept of fatherhood relates to how we relate to our God.  Fatherhood has become a human institution that established the stability of our nations, our families and our marriages.  Somehow, we picture the Heavenly Father in the same way as we visualize our human fathers.

 

In the Book of Deuteronomy, our ancestors in the faith came to know their God as the Lord, more powerful than the other gods.  The Hebrews came to know God as Yahweh, the greatest and the only God.  They came to know their God more and more through the marvelous works they experienced throughout their history as a people. They came to know God as a just God as well as a loving and caring God, merciful and slow to anger. One of the ways we get to know God as Father is through the world of creation and through God’s providential love for us.

 

On this Father’s Day, let renew our common commitment to be like our Father in heaven who is loving and caring… Let us all pray for fathers: “Lord Jesus, we praise you for saving us.  Teach us to love you and your Father by keeping your commandments.  Bless all fathers and deepen their love for their wives and families.  By their work and example and prayer, may they lead their children to follow you.  Amen.”