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FATHER'S DAY (in U. S. A.) Message: June 19, 2016: one-page synopsis

Introduction: Happy Father's Day to all who are fathers or grandfathers or stepfathers! Five weeks ago, we observed Mother's Day and offered Mass for our moms. Today, on this Father's Day, we are doing the same – offering our dads, living or dead, on the altar of God during this Holy Mass and invoking our Heavenly Father’s blessings on them.

The observance most similar to our Father's Day was the ancient Roman Parentalia, an annual family reunion to remember and commemorate departed parents and kinsfolk. The originator and promoter of Father's Day was Mrs. Sonora Dodd of Spokane, Washington. Her father, William Jackson Smart, had accomplished the amazing task of rearing his six children after their young mother’s death. Mrs. Dodd's suggestions for observing the day included wearing a flower -- a red rose to indicate a living father and a white rose for a dead father. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge made the first Presidential proclamation in support of Father's Day, and in 1972, President Richard Nixon declared the third Sunday in June a National Day of Observance in honor of fathers.

The Father's role in society: According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the vital importance of the father’s role comes from the fact that, with his wife, he cooperates with God the Creator in bringing a new human life into the world. (1. 23.6% of US children (17.4 million) lived in father absent homes in 2014). Children who are raised with fathers present in the family have much lower rates of delinquency, drug and alcohol use, teen pregnancy, and so on, than those with absent fathers. The father's presence is also a significant positive factor in the children’s getting a college education, finding a satisfying job, and making a lasting marriage. A girl's choice of partner and satisfaction in marriage is often directly related to the relationship she has had with her father.

A day to remember our Heavenly Father and our Rev. Fr. Pastors: Father's Day is a day to remember, acknowledge and appreciate the "World's Greatest Dad,"OUR HEAVENLY FATHER (Rom. 8:15, Gal. 4:6) Who is our spiritual Daddy, actively involved in all areas of our lives. It is He on Whom we lean in times of pain and hurt; it is He on Whom we call in times of need;it is He Who provides for us in all ways-- practical, emotional, and spiritual. Many of us pray the “Our Father” day after day, without paying attention to, or experiencing, the love and providence of our Heavenly Father. Let us pray the Our Father during this Holy Mass, realizing the meaning of each clause and experiencing the love of our Heavenly Father for us. May all earthly fathers draw strength from their Heavenly Father! On this Father’s Day, please don’t forget to pray for us, your spiritual Fathers, – men who are called to be Fathers of an immensely large parish family through the Sacrament of Holy Orders. (L/16)

FATHER'S DAY MESSAGE, (June 19, 2015)

Anecdote # 1: “Have you ever seen a saint praying?" St. Therese of Lisieux and St. Teresa of Avila have their own stories about the influence their fathers had on their lives as role models. The Little Flower used to ask an innocent question to her first grader classmates: “Have you ever seen a saint praying?" She would add: "If you haven't, come to my house in the evening. You will see my dad on his knees in his room with outstretched arms, praying for us, his children, every day.” She states in one of her letters from the convent: “I have never seen or heard or experienced anything displeasing to Jesus in my family.” In the final year of her high school studies, St. Teresa of Avila was sent by her father (against her will), to a boarding house conducted by nuns. Her father took action at the moment he discovered bad books and yellow magazines hidden in her box. These had been supplied to Teresa by her spoiled friend and classmate, Beatrice. St. Teresa later wrote as the Mother Superior: “But for that daring and timely action of my father, I would have ended up in the streets, as a notorious woman.” Father's Day challenges Christian Fathers to be role models to their children.

# 2: ‘I never hugged my dad’! In his book My Father, My Son, Dr Lee Salk describes a moving interview with Mark Chapman, the convicted murderer of Beatle John Lennon. At one point in the interview, Chapman says: "I don’t think I ever hugged my father. (David Curtis Chapman, was astaff sergeantin theU. S. Air Force). He never told me he loved me…I needed emotional love and support. I never got that.” Chapman’s description of how he would treat a son if he had one is especially tragic, because he will probably never get out of prison and have a family of his own. He says: “I would hug my son and kiss him…and just let him know…he could trust me and come to me…and (I would) tell him that I loved him.” Dr Salk ends his book with this advice to fathers and sons. It applies equally well to mothers and daughters. “Don’t be afraid of your emotions, of telling your father or your son that you love him and that you care. Don’t be afraid to hug and kiss him. Don’t wait until the death bed to realize what you’ve missed." (Mark Link in Sunday Homilies)

# 3: "Paco, meet me at the Hotel Montana noon Tuesday. All is forgiven." In Ernest Hemingway’s short story “Capital of the World,” a Spanish newspaper, El Liberal, carried a poignant story about a father and his son. It went like this. A teen-aged boy, Paco, and his very wealthy father had a falling out, and the young man ran away from home. The father was crushed. After a few days, he realized that the boy was serious, so the father set out to find him. He searched high and low for five months to no avail. Finally, in a last, desperate attempt to find his son, the father put an ad in a Madrid newspaper. The ad read, "Dear Paco, Meet me at the Hotel Montana noon Tuesday. All is forgiven. I love you. Signed, Your Father. On Tuesday, in the office of Hotel Montana, over 800 Pacos showed up, looking for love and forgiveness from their fathers. What a magnet that ad was! Over 800 Pacos!! We all hunger for pardon. We are all “Pacos” yearning to run and find a father who will declare, “All is forgiven.” Father's Day reminds us that we need more loving, forgiving fathers.

#3 "I love you, Dad. Happy Birthday.” A friend tells about how when he was a small boy his father's birthday rolled around, and he did not realize it until it was too late to get his father a birthday present. So, he went through all his resources and came up with 17 cents. He put the dime, the nickel, and the two pennies in an envelope and gave it to his father with a note: "I love you, Dad. Happy Birthday. Thanks for being the best dad in the whole world. Sorry I did not get you a gift. This is all I've got." Years later, at his father's death, when he was going through his father's possessions, he discovered within a special compartment of his father's wallet, the envelope, the note, the dime, the nickel, and the two pennies that his father had carried all those years. (Donald Shelby, "Love is Gratitude"). Why? Why of all the things the father and son had experienced together was this token kept as the most precious reminder of their relationship? Why? It was pure love, and pure gratitude. And that's what we have in our second Scripture lesson today.

Introduction: Happy Father’s Day to all who have fathers or stepfathers, who had fathers or who are fathers! These holidays of our culture are not exactly high holy days of the Church, but they do give us reason to pause, to pray for and to reflect on our fathers whom we honor. Five weeks ago we offered Mass for our moms. Today, on this Father's Day, we are doing the same – offering our dads, living or dead, on the altar of God during this Holy Mass and invoking our Heavenly Father’s blessings on them. Modern America appears to be unique in its honoring of fathers on a special day. Today we celebrate, congratulate and pray for the men who continue to reflect the Divine qualities of fatherhood as they lovingly establish, nourish and maintain their families. Fathers are a blessing, and we thank them for blessing us with lives of dedication, endurance and love.

Historical note: The observance most similar to our Father's Day was the ancient Roman Parentalia, which lasted from the thirteenth of February to the twenty-second. This festival, however, was not for living fathers, but was rather a time of remembrance, commemorating departed parents and kinsfolk. The ceremonies were held, Ovid says, to "appease the souls of your fathers." This annual observance became a family reunion. Members offered wine, milk, honey, oil and water at the flower-decorated graves. At the concluding ceremony, known as the Caristia, much celebrating went on as the living relatives feasted together, having been cleansed by the performance of their duties to the dead. Father's Day for us, of course, is not intended for honoring the dead. We may pay a minor symbolic tribute by wearing a white rose in memory of deceased fathers, but far fewer of these are seen than white carnations on Mothers’ Day.

The origin of Father's Day. The originator and promoter of Father's Day was Mrs. John Bruce Dodd (Sonora Smart Dodd), of Spokane, Washington. The idea of a Father's Day celebration came to her first while listening to a sermon on Mother's Day in 1909. Her own father, William Jackson Smart, had accomplished the amazing task of rearing six children -- Mrs. Dodd and her five brothers -- after his young wife had died. The sacrifices her father made on their eastern Washington farm called to mind the unsung feats of fathers everywhere. Mrs. Dodd’s idea was approved by her church and publicized by the YMCA. In 1910, the mayor of Spokane issued a Father's Day Proclamation and the governor, M.E. Hay, set the date for an observance throughout the state. Mrs. Dodd's suggestions for observing the day included wearing a flower -- a red rose to indicate a living father and a white rose for a dead father. By 1924, the custom had spread through the country, and Calvin Coolidge made the first Presidential proclamation in support of Father's Day. Nearly 50 years later, (1972), President Richard Nixon made the holiday permanent, requesting that Congress pass a joint resolution to establish the third Sunday in June as a National Day of Observance in honor of fathers everywhere.

The Father’s role in the family and in the society. Some recent studies have demonstrated how important a father is to his child's development. Children raised with fathers present have lower rates of delinquency, drug and alcohol use, teen pregnancy, and so on, than those with absent fathers. The father's presence is also a significant positive factor in children’s getting a college education, finding a satisfying job, and making a lasting marriage. Psychotherapists today are saying that both parents are vitally important to the stable development of their children; the mother's input is invaluable in the formative pre-adolescent years, but the father's most important influence is at adolescence. Single mothers tell us that it is terribly difficult to teach their children about the meaning of God the Father Who seems so impersonal because their children have been abandoned by their natural fathers. Adolescent daughters long to hear from their fathers that they are beautiful and loved. In fact, a girl's choice of partner and satisfaction in marriage is often directly related to the relationship she has had with her father. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the vital importance of the father’s role comes from the fact that, with his wife, he cooperates with God the Creator in bringing a new human life into the world. There is no power greater than that (#2367). (A few Biblical references to fathers: Genesis 2:24, Exodus 20:12, Ezekiel 19:19-20, Sirach 3:1-16, Matthew 19:16-22, John 1:14, 2 Cor. 6:16-18, Ephesians 6: 1-4, 1 Thess. 2:11 – 12).

The ideal and the reality: Many fathers today are role models like St. Thomas More and St. Louis Martin (father of the Little Flower), heroes of our Faith. Even in these days, fathers are expected to be the providers for, and the protectors of, the family. They are also supposed to be attuned emotionally and spiritually to their wives and children and to be able to balance careers with family life. Fathers struggle to overcome temptation and conflict. They make sacrifices day after day for their families. They try to give their youngsters the kind of model that surely they deserve above all else, a model of goodness, holiness, faith, trust in God and fidelity to the teachings of the Church. This is what Father's Day should remind us of. This is a time for all fathers to reflect upon their duties as responsible and well-integrated men. True fatherhood demands commitment. Commitment demands maturity, sacrifice, and love. Fatherhood also demands responsibility. Every true father will take responsibility for all of his actions. Our nation has an urgent need for good fathers.

But while the idea of fatherhood is a good one, the reality we see on earth is sometimes quite different. Some fathers abandon their children, beat them, ridicule or ignore them, abuse them and damage them psychologically for life. Even good fathers have their limits. Unfortunately, we unduly sentimentalize fatherhood, the media often ridicule and make fun of it and we treat it with contempt. We are reminded time after time of the number of children growing up fatherless because their fathers have abandoned them or their fathers have been unfaithful.

A day to remember our Heavenly Father and our Rev. Fr. Pastor: A favorite gift for Father's Day is the cap emblazoned with the words "World's Greatest Dad." You may see more of them than ever this year on the heads of proud fathers everywhere. There is one dad, however, who doesn't always get a lot of honor on Father's Day. That is the "World's Greatest Dad," OUR HEAVENLY FATHER (Rom. 8:15, Gal. 4:6). He is our spiritual Daddy, actively involved in all areas of our lives. It is He on Whom we lean in times of pain and hurt; it is He on Whom we call in times of need; it is He Who provides for us in all ways -- practical, emotional, and spiritual. He wants us to think of Him as "Dad." This being so, let us take this Father's Day to honor Him, the REAL "World's Greatest Dad." Many of us pray the “Our Father” day after day, without paying attention to, or experiencing, the love and providence of our Heavenly Father. Let us pray the Our Father during this Holy Mass realizing the meaning of each clause and experiencing the love of our Heavenly Father for us. May all earthly fathers draw strength from their Heavenly Father! On this Father's Day, please don’t forget to pray for us your spiritual Fathers – men who are called to be Fathers of an immensely large parish family through the Sacrament of Holy Orders.