By Fr. Glenn Jones:
Well, it’s mid-June, so it must be Fathers’ Day! A most happy and blessed Dads’ day to all your fathers out there, for being a father is honor, responsibility and privilege—indeed, very likely a man’s greatest responsibility when he has children. So cherish the gift that fatherhood is! … knowing that your love and care for your children is to reflect the love and care of God the Eternal Father for all.
For if a man fails to protect and provide for his little ones (other than in circumstances beyond his control—illness and the like), many will think him not much of a man at all (thus the term “deadbeat dad”). Some will object to such a harsh description … but they also know that it is true.
So, lads … step up; both your kids and the world (not to mention their mother!) will thank you for it. Be the anchor upon whom they can count—the purveyor of life advice, the shoulder when in pain, the rock upon which they can rely. Do these things, and you will be etched into their memories and actions always.
Who are the notable fathers we find in the Scriptures, and why? Who can be the father’s model.
Well, of course, first and foremost is God the Father, who created Mankind in His own image. As we read in scripture: “God created Man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.’”(Genesis 1:27-29) God establishes the pattern of fatherhood by providing, guiding, nurturing, protecting. And throughout scriptures He is the compassionate father who both loves and disciplines His children—His punishments meant to correct, He always ready to forgive as He did so many times with the Israelites in their journey through the desert. Indeed, psalm 136 repeats “His love endures forever” twenty-six times.
On the solely human level we Catholics honor as the patron saint of fatherhood St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus. Even though he was not the bio dad of Jesus, he provided for and protected Jesus and Jesus’ mother Mary through hardship and danger, guiding his foster Son in his trade of carpentry. We Catholics hold that Mary had no other children and, indeed, had no marital relations with Joseph, “brothers and sisters” of Jesus in the Gospels referring to other relations like cousins, just as in many societies today. After all, Joseph knew that Mary was the chosen vessel in whom was conceived the Son of God and thus was “spouse” of the Holy Spirit; what devout man (or ANY man with any sense!) would then dare touch her in a less-than-chaste way?
Because they are so important to reflect upon, I like to repeat some of the scriptures relating to fatherhood on Fathers’ Day, especially from Sirach:
1 Listen to me your father, O children; and act accordingly, that you may be kept in safety.
2 For the Lord honored the father above the children, and he confirmed the right of the mother over her sons.
3 Whoever honors his father atones for sins,
4 and whoever glorifies his mother is like one who lays up treasure.
5 Whoever honors his father will be gladdened by his own children, and when he prays he will be heard.
6 Whoever glorifies his father will have long life, and whoever obeys the Lord will refresh his mother;
7 he will serve his parents as his masters.
8 Honor your father by word and deed, that a blessing from him may come upon you.
9 For a father’s blessing strengthens the houses of the children…
10 Do not glorify yourself by dishonoring your father, for your father’s dishonor is no glory to you.
11 For a man’s glory comes from honoring his father, and it is a disgrace for children not to respect their mother.
12 O son, help your father in his old age, and do not grieve him as long as he lives;
13 even if he is lacking in understanding, show forbearance; in all your strength do not despise him.
14 For kindness to a father will not be forgotten, and against your sins it will be credited to you;
15 in the day of your affliction it will be remembered in your favor; as frost in fair weather, your sins will melt away.
So treasure parents while you have them, for time passes so very quickly, and before you know it, “…the silver cord is snapped…the golden bowl is broken…and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.” (Ecclesiastes 12:6-7) We who have lost our fathers and/or mothers often reflect on what more we could have done to show our love and gratitude to them—opportunities lost, to never return.
But, in times of such regret, we also know that those in Heaven forgive all slights … hold no grudges; they only long for us to be with them once more for an eternal embrace. As St. John tells us, “God IS love, and he who abides in God abides in Him.” (1 John 4:16) Grudges and hatreds have no place in Heaven, so neither should they have place in the Christian’s heart on earth.
And so, to repeat once more: How is a man a good father? We need only adapt slightly St. Paul’s verses from 1 Corinthians 13:
“[A father] is patient, [a father] is kind; [a father] is not jealous or boastful; [a father] is not arrogant or rude. [A father] does not insist on [his] own way; [a father] is not irritable or resentful; [he] does not rejoice at wrong but rejoices in the right. [A father] bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. [A father’s] faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is [a father’s] love.”
Editor’s note: Rev. Glenn Jones is the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and former pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Los Alamos.
