Father’s Day: the Catholic Perspective
We wish all the fathers in our parish a happy and blessed Father’s Day!
Fathers are called in a special way to reflect God’s unconditional love and forgiveness. Similar to the way our heavenly Father cares for us, our earthly fathers are there to help us navigate life’s challenges and pick us up when we fall.
God the Father gave up his only Son, Jesus Christ, so that we might be saved through him. He provides an example of the very vocation of fatherhood.
Fathers are to sacrifice their lives for their families by:
- being the spiritual leaders and guardians of their families.
- praying for and with their families.
- being a courageous witness to the Gospel.
- providing care and support for their families.
- serving as an example of goodness and truth.
- leading with courage and accountability.
- laying down one’s life for the other.
On Father’s Day, in a special way, let us be grateful for:
- our fathers, by birth or adoption, who love us and support us through life.
- our priests and bishops who act as spiritual fathers.
- God our Father, who will always teach justly and grant us boundless mercy.
Year of St Joseph: December 2020 – December 2021
In his apostolic letter announcing the Year of St. Joseph, Pope Francis explained that the aim of this special year is “to increase our love for this great saint, to encourage us to implore his intercession and to imitate his virtues and his zeal,” describing St Joseph as a “beloved father, a tender and loving father, an obedient father, an accepting father; a father who is creatively courageous, a working father, a father in the shadows.” All fathers are therefore called to emulate St Joseph.
A Reflection by Brian J Plachta
BRIAN J PLACHTA is a writer and spiritual director. He holds a master’s in pastoral counselling and he and his wife have four adult children. His blogposts can be found at: www.brianplachta.net and on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/WisdomSpace
s my siblings and I scurried for the door to catch the school bus, my dad would stop us for a moment and trace a small cross on our foreheads. The thick skin of his thumb against my brow felt warm and strong. At night, he’d perform his wordless ritual again as he kissed us good night and tucked us into bed.
My father has long since passed, but these golden memories linger. I still feel his gentle touch upon my brow as he signed me with the cross. And now, with four children of my own, I realise what my father was doing. He was giving us a father’s blessing.
In his book, Champions for Life: The Healing Power of a Father’s Blessing, retired NFL football coach Bill Glass writes that receiving a father’s blessing is a vital part of a child’s development. After 36 years of working with juvenile prison inmates, Glass believes a common thread among many young criminal offenders is the lack of a close relationship with a positive male figure. Without the presence of a wise male in their lives to teach and encourage them, young boys often seek the false blessings of a substitute father in criminal gangs.
To curtail this tide, Glass has made it his life’s mission to teach parents and others how to give blessings that can provide children with the inspiration, reassurance and confidence to live life to their fullest potential. Bestowing a blessing, he writes, requires simply a gentle touch, a loving hug or a powerful verbal message of unconditional love.
My father’s example and Glass’ book inspired me to continue the blessing tradition my father started. As my four children ran toward the door during their school-age years, I’d stop them as my father had done to me and trace a small cross on their foreheads. Now that they’ve grown into adulthood with children of their own, I still cross their foreheads with the same love and respect my father gifted to me. And when my wife and I baby-sit our grandchildren, I bless their toddler heads with a sign of the cross as I kiss them good night and tell them, “God and Grandpa love you.”
Father’s Day is a day to remember both our earthly and our heavenly fathers’ blessings. If we were lucky enough to have a human father who blessed and loved us unconditionally, we might remember and thank him. If our earthly fathers were absent, physically or emotionally, it might be a time to reflect upon how our heavenly Father has loved us unconditionally from the moment we were a mere twinkle in God’s eye. And if we are fathers ourselves – or men and women who father the fatherless – we might consider tracing the sign of the cross upon the young men and women in our lives, so we can bestow a father’s blessing upon those who yearn for the golden touch of unconditional love.