Father's Day -- Make Time!

Father’s Day -- Make Time!

Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary time -- June 20, 2010
Zechariah 12:10-11; 13:1 Galatians 3:26-29 Matthew 7:7-11

To the Church gathered in a Temple not built by human hands ([1])

Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke
Glory to you, Lord.

Then Jesus, using the goodness of earthly fathers to prove the goodness of the heavenly Father, said to His disciples,

“Ask, and you will receive. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. For whoever asks will receive. Whoever seeks will find. Whoever knocks will have the door opened to him. Would any of you who are fathers give your son a stone when he asks for bread? Or would you give him a snake when he asks for a fish? You earthly fathers, bad as you are, know how to give good things to your children; how much more, then, does your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask Him.”

The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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Introduction
Father’s Day & 1st Day of summer

Today, the 3rd Sunday of June, is Father’s Day. William Smart, a Civil War veteran, was widowed when his wife died in childbirth with their sixth child. He was left to raise the newborn and his other five children by himself on a rural farm in Spokane, WA. One of his daughters, who realized how much strength and selflessness it took for her father to raise six children as a single parent, began a movement to establish a special day to honor her father and all fathers. In 1909, she asked her minister to have a special church service on June 5th (her father’s birthday) dedicated to fathers. That date was too soon for her minister to prepare the service, so he deferred it to the third Sunday of June that year. On June 19th 1910, the first Father's Day was celebrated in Spokane, WA. In 1924, President Coolidge recommended that Father’s Day be a national holiday celebrating fatherhood and male parenting. In 1966, President Johnson declared Father's Day a holiday to be celebrated on the third Sunday of June. On that day a red rose is worn for a living father and a white one for one deceased.

Tomorrow, June 21st is the first day of summer and one of the longest days of the year. It has 19 hours of light and only 5 hours of darkness. Then from June 21st on, the light of day will begin to diminish until December 21st -- one of the shortest days of the year. It will have only 9 hours of light and 15 hours of darkness.

Parenting isn’t space science

espite the volumes which psychiatrists write on the subject, the art of male parenting isn’t space science; the awesome undertaking of fatherhood doesn’t require sophisticated strategies. The President Emeritus of Notre Dame University, Theodore M. Hesburgh, CSC, once said, “The most important thing that a father can do is to love the mother of his children!” That’s not space science.

A poster shows a dad and his seven or eight-year-old son in an old rowboat on a little lake. It's early in the morning, there's a faint mist still on the lake, and the father and son are sitting there, quiet and still. They're each holding a bamboo fishing pole, and the corks attached to their lines are floating motionless on the placid water. Underneath the poster are written two words: Take time! That, too, isn’t space science.

An insightful dad writes, “Most men I know have an instinct for fatherhood that is triggered the day their first child is born. They instinctively know what the number one requirement of fatherhood is: Be present!” Again, that’s not space science.

Dads who had little time

A friend writes, “My Dad was a hard worker, always steady and faithful in his role. When I was a youngster he worked the p.m. shift as a machinist at Gehl Co. in West Bend, and he really had little time to be present to us kids in the evenings. That created a void which had a bad effect on us kids.”

Gary Rosberg, too, had little time to be present to his daughter when he was working on his doctoral thesis in counseling. One day she came into his study and showed him a sketch she had just drawn. She entitled it The Rosberg Family. Knee-deep in his thesis, the dad gave the picture a passing glance. When the daughter left the room, he gave the sketch a second glance. There he saw his wife Sarah, his other daughter Missy and the family dog Katie. But no dad! He called Sarah back and asked, "Honey, where's daddy?" "Oh," she said nonchalantly, "you're never home; you’re always at the library.” That was a powerful moment of truth and grace for daddy Rosberg.

A dad who had time

A dad, whom I know, encouraged his four sons to do volunteer work without any pay in an animal shelter, cleaning out dog and cat kennels! The father also asked his sons to participate in a program which socialized young pups in preparation for a program which trains dogs to be seeing-eyes for the blind. (My dog Simeon, was one of those pups.) When the dad rang a Salvation Army bell at Christmas, he asked his sons to accompany him, by playing Christmas carols on various musical instruments: one son played a guitar, another a saxophone, a third a French horn and a fourth a key board.

What a simple recipe for male parenting. It isn’t space science. And though it’s not infallible, it’s far more likely to succeed than buying your kid a car for graduation. Besides, it’s much less expensive. Unselfish dads hardly ever raise selfish kids, for ”The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

Conclusion
Make time!

There are steady and faithful fathers who are absent because they’re busy working the night shift to make a living for their families. And there are fathers who are absent because they’re busy earning a degree, also to make a living for their families. And then there are fathers who are absent because they’re busy either working their heads off to get a promotion or to provide more and more creature comforts for their family and themselves.

To all dads who are busy for one reason or other, this is the Father’s Day messages: Take time to be present! Yes, indeed, give the kids the things they need or think they need: a nice house to live in, a good education, and all the tools and toys which advertizing tells them they need. But above all, give them the most important gift of all: give them your time!

And if you don’t have time, make time, as the father made time for his eight-year-old son, fishing in an old rowboat on a little lake. Making time will save you much time in the long run, while not making time could cost you an ocean of tears and a mountain of regret later on. At the end of the day, making time will return to bless you abundantly, for Ecclesiastes promises, “Cast your bread upon the waters, and after many days it will return to bless you.” (Ec. 11: 1)
[1] Acts of the Apostles 17:24