The two parts of this series we have seen how Christ's instruction to call God "Father" impacts our identity and mission as followers of the Beloved Son of God. Now let us focus on what implications this has for men who are called by God to the vocation of being a husband and Dad.
Call no one on earth Father?
At first glance, it may seem that calling God "Father" rules out calling our Dad on earth by the same title. Did Jesus not say, "Call no one on earth your father" (Mt 23:9)? Upon careful consideration of the context of these words of our Savior and after seeing it within the larger picture of all the rest of the Sacred Scriptures, it becomes evident that Jesus was not telling us to jettison "Dad" from our vocabulary. After all, in the Fourth Commandment of the Decalogue, God Himself refers to "Dad" as "Father," and commands us to honor him and our mother. St Paul makes clearer the meaning of Jesus' words when he writes (Eph 3:14), "I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named."
Jesus certainly underlines the fact that all His disciples have one common Father in heaven (Cf. Mt 6:1). God's fatherhood and the privilege of being His children surpass what any Dad on earth can be for his children. However, since every family receives its name from God, Dads and Moms receive their authority and mission from Him, too. Furthermore, to call God "Father" ensures that Dads do not claim for themselves the source of fatherhood. Instead, praying the Lord's Prayer with his wife and children helps each Dad to be a faithful icon of God's fatherhood for them. As the "Catechism of the Catholic Church" states (#2214), "The divine fatherhood is the source of human fatherhood."
What we know of God the Father comes through His Son Jesus Christ. And Christ's revelation of the Father is a revelation of love, a fatherly love that pours itself out for His children and a spousal love that pours itself out for his wife, even to the point of sacrificial death on the Cross. How can human fathers hope even to approach such a love for their wives and children? Given our fallen human nature, without God's grace, it would indeed be hopeless. But we have been redeemed by Christ and sealed by His Holy Spirit. And as the Angel told the Virgin Mary (Lk 1:37), "Nothing is impossible with God."
The goodness and foibles of human fatherhood
The Gospel according to St. Matthew, which records Jesus' words (Mt 23:9) "Call no one on earth your father," goes to great lengths from the beginning to underline the goodness of fatherhood. In the first 16 verses of the account, for example, the word "father" is used 42 times. We are told the names of 42 fathers beginning with Abraham and ending with St. Joseph.
These 42 fathers are the ancestors of Jesus of Nazareth. Through them, even with all their moral failures and spiritual foibles, God prepared the way for His eternal Son to enter our world within the Holy Family of Nazareth. God's providential preparation for the redemption of the world was at work through one generation after another.
Some of the 42 fathers were far from admirable; they brought great heartache and turmoil to their families. Nevertheless, God never called a halt to His providential plan. He never gave up and started all over again. As Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis writes in "Fire of Mercy" (p. 58), "His Son is born within time from a race of saints, sinners, ruffians, exiles, wise men, poets, quarrelers."
If God could prepare the way for His Son to enter our world, working with the likes of David, Solomon and Ahaz, then He can certainly bring about good things through the men called to fatherhood in 2005, even with all our weaknesses and sins.
The well-being of children
Fatherhood exists for the wellbeing of children. Kids need the care of both a mother and a father; and they need the love of God the Father, as well as the motherhood of the Church and of the Virgin Mary.
Tragically, as David Blankenhorn writes in "Fatherless America" (p. 12), "Over the past two hundred years, fathers have gradually moved from the center to the periphery of family life. As the social role for fathers has diminished, so our cultural story of fatherhood has by now almost completely ceased to portray fathers as essential guarantors of child and societal well-being." Statistical evidence today shows that children without fathers are at a much higher risk of living in poverty, failing in school and engaging in crime. Nonetheless, fatherhood continues to receive only peripheral attention regarding its vital importance in the family and society.
In a sense, this is not surprising. Rebellion against fatherhood, especially the fatherhood of God, is as old as time. Pope John Paul II said as much in "Crossing the Threshold of Hope" (p. 228), "Original sin is not only the violation of a positive command of God but also, above all, a violation of the will of God as expressed in that command [#4]. Original sin attempts, then, to abolish fatherhood" placing in doubt the truth about God who is love and leaving man with only the sense of a master-slave relationship." Our current lack of respect as a culture for fatherhood has a long history!
Rather than cursing the darkness, however, why not encourage men, especially men of faith, to rediscover the vocation and mission of fatherhood? Was there any time in history when the very existence of children was so threatened as today? Abortion, child abuse, divorce and many other evils wreak havoc on the entire society but are most destructive for our children. While women have a vital role to play in combating these evils, the role of men is perhaps more important.
In the footsteps of St. Joseph
Following the example of St. Joseph, a father's first and most basic duty is to protect children, to provide them with the safety and security they need to grow and to mature. When the Holy Family was in danger, Joseph got them out of it. To be sure, God assisted him through angels and dreams, but it was Joseph who acted on God's gifts and took the lead.
Fathers also provide for their wives and children, as did Joseph for Mary and Jesus. Obviously, mothers also contribute to this task, but in a different and complementary way. What Dads provide certainly entails money and material resources, the things that are required for our physical and material needs. But a Dad provides something of even greater value to his children when he lives out faithfully his marriage vows to the children's mother. Children have an innate sense of wellbeing when they perceive, even unconsciously, that Mom and Dad love one another. The giving of self that makes marriage a sacrament and that deepens the bond of love between husband and wife creates a home that truly is a sanctuary of life and a domestic Church.
All men who are called to married life and those of us called to celibacy for God's Kingdom have key roles to play in the Church's mission today of healing our culture. We must equip ourselves mentally and spiritually for this struggle. We need ongoing faith formation and daily prayer to prepare us to exercise a fatherhood that points beyond itself to God.
The last play that John Paul II wrote, shortly before becoming pope, is titled "Radiation of Fatherhood." May the Lord give us the courage to be men who radiate to the world the life-giving Fatherhood of God.
