A message for dads on Father's Day:
Imitate the Father who keeps his promises.

"A Father Who Keeps His Promises."

That's the title of a book written by Dr. Scott Hahn, but it could also be a sub-title for the Holy Bible, because that's exactly what the Bible is all about. Summarized in one sentence, the Bible is the story of a Father who always keeps his promises! For example, way back in Genesis 3: 15, after Adam and Eve had consumed their deadly afternoon snack in the Garden of Eden, God promised a Redeemer; he promised to send someone into the world who would undo the effects of this original sin. Speaking to Satan, the Lord said, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel." The rest of the Old Testament is the story of how God delivered on that promise by first choosing the people of Israel and then preparing them for coming of the Messiah. At that point the New Testament picks up the story and brings it to fulfillment, telling how the Messiah redeemed not only the people of Israel but the whole human race through his Passion, Death and Resurrection. St. Paul put it beautifully in the last line of today's second reading from Romans 5: "But the gift is not like the transgression. For if by that one person's transgression the many died, how much more did the grace of God and the gracious gift of the one person Jesus Christ overflow for the many."

Of course, in between Genesis 3: 15 and the coming of Jesus, the heavenly Father was not speechless or inactive. During that lengthy period of time he made many other promises which he also kept. He told Abraham, for example, that he would become the father of many nations, and he delivered on that promise. He told Moses that he would use him to set his people free from slavery in Egypt and to lead them to the Promised Land, and he did! He said to the prophet Jeremiah on the day he called him, "Have no fear before [the people to whom I am sending you], because I am with you to deliver you." Jeremiah probably thought about that promise every single day of his ministry, because he was attacked and persecuted almost every day for speaking the truth! And because he remembered the promise, he was able to speak the confident words we heard in today's first reading: "The Lord is with me, like a mighty champion; my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph." Despite the many sufferings he was forced to endure, Jeremiah believed in the very depths of his heart that the Lord would always be faithful to his word.

Since today is Father's Day, I now have a challenging question for all the dads here present: Are you also a father who has kept his promise? What promise, you ask? The one you made on the day your child was baptized! I'm sure you remember it. It occurred at the very beginning of the baptismal ceremony. Immediately after you and your wife requested the sacrament for your son or daughter, the celebrant said, "You have asked to have your child baptized. In doing so you are accepting the responsibility of training him (or her) in the practice of the faith. It will be your duty to bring him (or her) up to keep God's commandments as Christ taught us, by loving God and our neighbor. Do you clearly understand what you are undertaking?"

You and your wife responded, "We do." That was a solemn promise before Almighty God that you would make every effort to be a living witness of Catholic Christianity to your child. It was a declaration that you would teach your son or daughter "the faith," not your own version of the faith; in other words it was a declaration that you would teach your child to be a committed Catholic, not a "cafeteria Catholic."

"But Fr. Ray, my children were baptized back in the days when the parents stayed home and the godparents brought the babies to church. So I guess this doesn't apply to me!"

Nice try, but no such luck!

As a parent all those many years ago, you actually made this promise through the very act of sending your child to church for the ceremony! The promise was implicit in the act.

So dads: Have you delivered on your promise? Have you taught your children the basics of the faith? Do they at least know what the Ten Commandments are? Do they know what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ in the Church? Have you actively encouraged your children to pray and to read the Bible? Have you taught them how to pray? Have you set them an example by coming to Mass at least every Sunday and Holy Day? Have you set them an example by coming to Confession regularly--at least a couple of times a year? Have you set them an example by taking time out of your busy schedule each day for personal prayer? Have you made it your number 1 priority to live your Catholic faith, such that you can say to your children what St. Paul used to say to his spiritual children: "Be an imitator of me. Follow my example."?