(Twelfth Sunday of the Year (C): This homily was given on June 21, 1998 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I. by Fr. Raymond Suriani. Read Galatians 3: 26-29; Luke 9: 18-24.)

"God the Father: the standard for all earthly fatherhood."

Here’s a little story that’s very appropriate for Father’s Day:

An unbelieving dad said to his son (who happened to be his only child), "What did you learn in religion class today?"

The boy replied, "We learned that Jesus is God’s Son, and that he always existed."

The father said, "That’s ridiculous! There’s no way that can possibly be true. Look—I’m your father, and I existed a long time before you did."

The boy said, "No you didn’t. You didn’t begin to be a father, until I began to be a son."

That story gives us a little insight into something we say each and every Sunday in the Nicene Creed. There we call Jesus the "eternally begotten" Son of God the Father. That means there was never a moment when the First Person of the Blessed Trinity did not have a Son; which is why we call him "the ETERNAL Father!" Consequently, he’s the standard for ALL earthly fatherhood (as the new Catechism reminds us in paragraph 239). Now that’s extremely important for us to understand, especially if our experience of earthly fatherhood has not been a good one. Sometimes you meet a person who has a hard time calling God "Father", because their own earthly father was either absent or abusive. They judge God the Father by the standard of their human father—which is the exact opposite of what they should do! They should evaluate their human dad by the standard set by their perfect Father in heaven. For example: I was blessed with a very good earthly father, but I would never say that God the Father is like my dad was; I would say that my dad was a bit like God the Father in the way he loved and cared for our family. My dad was very good, but he wasn’t perfect. No earthly father is. Only our heavenly Father merits that title.

And where do we see the evidence for God the Father’s perfect love for us? That’s easy. We see the evidence for it in Jesus Christ his Son. As we’re told in that famous passage of Scripture, John 3:16—"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him may not die but may have eternal life." A good father will give his best to his children—even if they hurt him and sin against him. Well the fact is: God the Father gave us THE ABSOLUTE BEST when he gave us his Son! There was nothing better that he could possibly have given to the world! And he gave us that gift, knowing how we would reject it. As Jesus himself predicts in today’s gospel text from Luke 9: "The Son of Man must first endure many sufferings, be rejected by the elders, the high priests and the scribes, and be put to death . . . " And through this precious gift--his only begotten Son Jesus--God the Father gives us his supernatural life and incorporates us (undeserving though we might be) into his family, giving us an eternal inheritance as his adopted children. As St. Paul reminds us in today’s second reading from Galatians 3: "Each one of you is a son of God because of your faith in Jesus."

And so, earthly fathers here present, I ask you this morning: Are you striving to be like God, our loving, eternal Father? In other words, are you making the conscious effort to give your children the very best you have? And here I’m not talking primarily about money and things. (Don’t misunderstand me.) What I mean is: Are you doing your best to be an example of faith to your children? (And are you repenting and going to Confession when you fail to be the dad you should be?) Are you doing your best to teach your Catholic faith to your children? Are you doing your best to help your children to know, love and serve Jesus Christ (which is the ultimate purpose of human life!)?

Dads, these are questions that you need to reflect on this morning. I say that also to myself, since I too am a father in the spiritual dimension of life.

If we dads really want to reflect the Fatherhood of God more perfectly in our earthly fatherhood, then we need to seek the Lord’s grace, wisdom and strength every day. With that in mind, I’ll now conclude my homily with a special blessing for all the fathers among us. This, by the way, is very similar to the blessing that’s given to dads at the end of the Rite of Baptism. I’d now ask all the fathers to stand.