A blessed Father's Day

The above is an icon of St Joseph and the Christ Child, which was given to everyone for Father's day. I share some thoughts for today probably because I've been reflecting on this for the past few days.

a. A Father leads.

A father first and foremost leads with his heart....A father is willing to give his life for his family, a father conforms himself in the image of Christ by willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good of the whole.

While I'm most certainly not at will to share this conversation, I can only think of talks with my dad relatively recently about what he went through with my mom suffering. It was most certainly heroic, and by no means easy, leading in the way that he knew how.

Looking at the Icon of St Joseph, we see Christ grabbing onto St Joseph's beard. I can only imagine It was St Joseph who taught Jesus how to carve wood, and St Joseph who gave Jesus an example (remember Jesus is both fully human and fully divine)....A father loves with all of his heart, we see this clearly with the icon of St Joseph and Christ Child.

b. A father protects

A father puts himself on the line for his family. A father protects his family from the wolves that attack them. I'm thinking of priests and our bishops who protect us from the wolves that surround us (some better than others)....A father does whatever is in his power to protect us from the wolves.

Think of St Joseph leading the Holy Family into Egypt, protecting Jesus from the wrath of Herod.

Our Example ultimately is Christ, and I know for some of you, your Fathers have not been perfect examples of the Love of the Holy Trinity and the love of St Joseph, but we only have one set of earthly parents....We love our parents as the 4th commandment commands us to do....

So I thus wish all of the Fathers a blessed Fathers day! Those with children, our spiritual fathers, and all that participate in the Fatherhood of God. Amen!