Men As Husbands And Fathers

As we prepare to celebrate Father’s Day here in the United States, it is worth reflecting upon this insight of St. John Paul II’s from Familiaris Consortio:

In revealing and in reliving on earth the very fatherhood of God, a man is called upon to ensure the harmonious and united development of all the members of the family: he will perform this task by exercising generous responsibility for the life conceived under the heart of the mother, by a more solicitous commitment to education, a task he shares with his wife, by work which is never a cause of division in the family but promotes its unity and stability, and by means of the witness he gives of an adult Christian life which effectively introduces the children into the living experience of Christ and the Church. 

St. John Paul II, please pray for all fathers, that they may live out their vocations to be good husbands and good parents. 

The Fatherhood of Blessed John Paul II

On the Knights of Columbus website, Archbishop William E. Lori reflects on the spiritual fatherhood of Blessed John Paul II:

Both by his teaching and his example, John Paul II personified the love a father should express toward his family and the love that a spiritual father, a priest, should express toward the Church and her members.

Throughout his pontificate, John Paul became a father figure to priests and religious, lay men and women, and young people. His loving guidance and protection pointed the Church towards the loving fatherhood of God Himself.

Blessed John Paul II, father figure for the world, pray for us! 

Following The Example Of St. Joseph

Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of St. Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary and foster Father to Jesus. Thirty days ago, we began a novena to the Patron of the Universal Church, entrusting fathers and husbands to his humble and loving care.

America is suffering from a crises in fatherhood, and so now, more than ever, we are in need of St. Joseph’s witness. Blessed John Paul II often wrote of his fatherly love:

Through the exercise of his fatherhood, Joseph cooperates, in the fullness of time, in the great mystery of salvation (cf. Redemptoris Custos, n. 8). "His fatherhood is expressed concretely in his having made his life a service ... to the mystery of the Incarnation and to the redemptive mission connected with it; ... in having turned his human vocation to domestic love into a superhuman oblation of self, an oblation of his heart and all his abilities into love placed at the service of the Messiah growing up in his house" (ibid.). To this end, God shared his own fatherly love with Joseph, that love "from [which] every family in heaven and on earth is named" (Eph 3:15).  

Like every child, Jesus learned about life and how to act from his parents. How could we not think, with deep wonder, that he must have developed the human aspect of his perfect obedience to the Father's will particularly by following the example of his father Joseph, "a just man" (cf. Mt 1:19)?

Fathers are images of God’s love for their children, and so let us celebrate St. Joseph today and encourage a renewed culture of fatherhood in America! 

Prayer And Family

Earlier this month, the Blessed John Paul II Shrine continued its Year of Faith Lecture Series with a lively presentation on Prayer and Family, given by Msgr. Charles Pope, pastor of Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian Church in Washington, D.C.

In his talk, Msgr. Pope encouraged parents to make more time for silence in their households, to focus on being “substantial witnesses to the faith” for their children, and to simply read more Scripture and Bible stories. Family structure is very important in forming a prayerful climate in the household, he said, and so he also gave listeners practical advice on how to intentionally form “structures of grace” in the home.

Msgr. Pope’s lecture is available for viewing on the Shrine’s website, as well as past lectures on the topics of Images of the Nativity: Rediscovering the Soul of the Family, and Catholic Manhood: The Man of God.

The Blessed John Paul II Shrine is hosting this lecture series to promote the Church’s Year of Faith and to advance both Blessed John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI’s call for a New Evangelization. Those of our readers who will be in Washington, D.C. on April 13 should mark their calendars for the next lecture, on The Gift of Fatherhood in Faith.

Thirty Days For Fatherhood

In his Apostolic Exhortation Redemptoris custos, Blessed John Paul II encouraged the faithful to turn to St. Joseph, husband of the Blessed Mother and father to Jesus, as our model and patron. He wrote:

May St. Joseph become for all of us an exceptional teacher in the service of Christ's saving mission, a mission which is the responsibility of each and every member of the Church: husbands and wives, parents, those who live by the work of their hands or by any other kind of work, those called to the contemplative life and those called to the apostolate.

As protector of the Holy Family, St. Joseph gave himself completely and generously to the Mother of God and her Son. Inspired by this true “gift of self,” join us in praying the Thirty Days’ Prayer to St. Joseph for the future of fatherhood in our society.

In these days leading up to the feast of St. Joseph, let us entrust fathers and husbands to his must humble and loving care.