Father s Day
“God sets a father in honor over his children; a mother’s authority he confirms over her sons.” Sirach 3:2
There are many absent and derelict fathers in our society; but we mustn't forget that there are also many good, decent, conscientious fathers who take their responsibility seriously.
A father acts as a model for his son’s growth into Christian manhood. He models for his daughters the traits they should look for in judging the character of men their age, especially any who are prospects for marriage.
He shows his kids how their mother’s moral teachings carry over later to life outside the home: telling the truth, keeping one’s word, putting duty first, deferring to others’ rights and feelings. By his example and correction at home, he shows how responsible adults respect each others’ rights and assert their own.
A father strengthens his children’s competence. He forms lifelong healthy attitudes to work; he forms serious habits of work on his sons and daughters.
If he fails here, his children may never outgrow the dominant attitude of childhood — that life is play. Some children remain stuck in a permanent adolescence — that later can destroy them, their careers and families.
Children sense that Mom and Dad would both die for them if necessary. They know that Dad would be fierce in protecting them from anyone who would try to harm them or their mother.
A man permits no one to threaten or upset his wife — and this includes their own children. A hugely important part of a father’s job is to defend his wife against their children’s rudeness, insolent disobedience, and impulsive aggression. I know a man who took his children aside and said to them in a no-nonsense voice, “I want you to know that she is not just your mother, she is my wife. And I don’t allow anybody to treat my wife with disrespect. Don’t force me to get physical about it. Just be nice to her or else.”
He leads his kids to the sacrament of reconciliation because it’s difficult going to confession. But they see their father coming out of the confessional happy, because it’s the sacrament of innocence regained.
One woman put this wonderfully. She said “I think the job of a woman and a mother is to keep reintroducing her husband to the children as a great man." A man’s reputation in his family depends on his wife.