Sunday, June 16, 2019: A message to fathers.
We continue to celebrate Pentecost and we honor the Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We can know the Father because Jesus has revealed him to us. We can receive the Holy Spirit because Jesus has gone to the Father and sent him to empower us and draw us to Him.
Fr. Steve reminds fathers that they have a heavy responsibility to model to our children and others the love of our heavenly Father.
It is not easy to be a loving father. We need to be fathered well in order to father well. But we all struggle to model the Father’s love for our children. But the Lord offers us healing for the wounds that we have received and given to others.
Fr. Steve explains about his own healing in his relationship to his father and in his image of God and how it increased his capacity to truly love.
He also mentions that men who do not know that they are loved end up try to prove how impressive they are in order to make themselves feel worthwhile and valuable. Instead, the Lord invites us to rest in his love and know that we are already precious in his eyes, that we are beloved sons, that we do not need to prove anything. Many men, Fr. Steve says, are bound up by inner vows which prevent them from receiving and giving love. We are exhorted to open ourselves to the healing love of the Father, so that we might share that love with others.
