As we honor our fathers on this special day, all of us are called upon to rediscover the true meaning of Christian fatherhood and the virtues associated with this wonderful vocation.

In essence, the ideals of natural fatherhood find their origin in our heavenly Father. Ultimately, the goal of every dad should be to imitate and represent for his children the fatherhood of God. In doing so, a Christian father in a sense becomes a sacrament or sign of God’s fatherhood.

The Scripture readings for today’s Mass assist us in our consideration of God’s fatherhood and thus offer some guidance for Christian dads today. For example, in the first reading from Exodus (19:2-6) God the Father is revealed to be a faithful provider for His people, Israel. He has provided them with a route of escape from Egypt, with manna for food in the desert and now, on Mount Sinai, He is going to provide them with the gift of His Law.

In the Gospel reading (MT 9:36-10:8), Jesus - who perfectly images and reveals God the Father - is moved to pity for the people, “because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.” In response, he provides for them shepherds who have been invested with his sacred powers over evil spirits and diseases and commissioned to proclaim that “the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”

We see, therefore, that a key component of God’s fatherhood lies in the fact that He provides for both the material and spiritual needs of His people. May the fathers of our parish be challenged by this paradigm and inspired to greater sacrifice as they seek to provide for the families entrusted to their paternal care.

-Fr. Michael Caridi