Be a father. What does it mean?!
Be a father. What does it mean?! Who is the father? Related to this question is another question: Whose children are we?
In a marvelous way, St. Joseph, a man who was not a natural father to anyone, became an example of a father. It may seem paradoxical, but nevertheless it contains a reference to the great truth indicated by the Lord Jesus in the Gospel according to St. Matthew: Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven. (Mt 23: 9). Man's only true Father is God. Discovering this truth, we are kind of reborn again, gaining new dignity and the full meaning of our life.
Only God is our Father! It is unusual, but this is what the Lord Jesus teaches us, and not only in the above statement. When the disciples asked him to teach them to pray, He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. (cf. Lk 11: 2). The word "Father" does not only express a tender, emotional approach to God, but it also contains an essential truth that the Lord Jesus consistently proclaims in the whole Gospel. On the news that his relatives had come to him and wanted to talk to him, He said to them in reply, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it (Lk 8:21). The true family of Jesus is made up of all those who take root in God and find their identity. In this way, He saidto be born again, thanks to which we can become fully ourselves. While our natural birth happened independently of us, this second birth is a personal choice. Saint John writes in the prologue of his Gospel: “He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him. But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God.” (cf. Jn 1:10–13).
In the context of this truth, we can reflect more deeply on the meaning of fatherhood in the earthly dimension. Saint Paul points to Abraham, to whom God said: I made you the father of many nations (cf. Rom 4:17). He became the father of many by his faith. We say he is the father of believers (see Genesis 17: 5). The earthly father fulfills his function as long as he himself takes root in God and transmits this rooting to the child. This truth has tremendous practical consequences in life. A priest wrote a thesis in psychology about Satanists. He noticed that the Satanists came from different families, rich and poor, but always, no matter what the mother was, whether a believer or not, the father was always either unbelieving or religiously indifferent or not at all. Neither of them had a true believer father. The basic attitude of Satanists, as we know, is to reject God as a father and look for their identity in a bond with Satan, who in their perception is closer to them because he is interested in them. The importance of the father to introduce the child to religious life is enormous.
So, it turns out, that a man truly becomes the father of his child when he points to the only Father, when he becomes a sign of his presence and action, when he introduces him to the art of dialogue with Him. From pastoral practice, it can be said that in the absence of such a father, the child has great difficulties later in life: both in terms of his identity and in finding himself in the world of values, not only religious ones.
To be such a father, one must enter into a bond of entrustment with God, the true Father. It is thanks to this that Abraham became the father of nations, and even three thousand years after his death, we constantly refer to him.
At the same time, fatherhood understood in this way receives God's blessing. God spoke this blessing through the prophet Nathan to David: “I will raise up your offspring after you, sprung from your loins…. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me… Your house and your kingdom are firm forever before me; your throne shall be firmly established forever.” (cf. 2 Sm 7:12,14,16).
As we know from further history, the prophecy was fulfilled not only through the centuries-long reign of David's descendants on the royal throne in Jerusalem, but in a much deeper dimension through the birth of the Messiah in his family, Jesus Christ, who was the Son of God in the full sense of the word. This promise was finally fulfilled through Joseph of Nazareth, who was not a biological father. However, through Joseph, Jesus bears the title of "son of David", as defined by two blind people, a Canaanite woman and a blind man near Jericho. Have mercy on us, Son of David! (cf. Mt 9:27).
There is, therefore, an unusual principle in the field of fatherhood: a father becomes more a father, the more he entrusts his child to God, the more he realizes that his child is a child of God, and he raises it for God. This is evident in the logic of personal relationships. Raising a child is about introducing him to the full freedom that is well-formed on the foundation of true values. And that, in fact, means bringing this child into a living relationship with God. If we look at the role of St. Joseph, it was what it consisted of: he was the guardian of the Son of God: Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife to you; for of the Holy Spirit is what is conceived in her (cf. Mt 1:20). And Joseph did as the angel of the Lord commanded him
(cf. Mt 1:24). Fatherhood understood in this way is one of the forms of human fulfillment in the disinterested gift of self. Therefore, St. Joseph remains a true model for all fathers.
On March 19, the feast of St. Joseph, patron saint of the universal church and Jesus’ earthly father, Pope Francis urged all dads in the world to stick by their children’s side, teaching them, guiding them and loving them.
“I ask that you have the grace to be very close to your children, letting them grow, but being by their side. They need you, your presence, to be there, your love!”
“To be a good father means to offer everything, holding nothing back; to protect without suffocating; to pardon without asking anything in return; to wait patiently and trustingly. It means following the example of the "Good Father" who is in heaven”.
May God bless all Fathers!”
Until Tomorrow
fr. george