Solemnity of the Most Blessed Trinity: Read: Rom. 8:14-17.

Today is “fathers’ day”. But it is first of all the solemnity of the Most Blessed Trinity, the source and the destiny of all that is, including all fatherhood. Our paltry words stumble to express our faith in the Trinity: indeed, in some ways it only makes sense that we keep silence before Three-in-One Whom we seek to know, love and name as God; we can but gaze upon Him and adore Him with our whole being. Yet, the Son of God when He became a “paltry human being” gave us words to help us understand and, more importantly, to call upon that God. And the key word that He gave us is the one St. Paul repeats in the reading we just heard: “Abba! Father!”, “Abba”, the endearing Aramaic term used by children when turning to their fathers - the term Jesus Himself used in speaking to the Divine Father and, surely, to St. Joseph.

So, given the coincidence that today is Trinity Sunday and fathers’ day, and given the coincidence that Jesus used the word Abba in speaking both to His Heavenly Father and to St. Joseph, perhaps I can play a little on the word “trinity” to share some thoughts with you on three types of fatherhood: God as Father, man as father and the priest as father.

Firstly, God as Father. In the creed we say: “We believe in one God, (the first person of Whom is) the Father, the Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen.” The Catechism teaches: “By calling God ‘Father’, the language of faith indicates two main things: that God is the first origin of everything and (is) transcendent authority; and that he is at the same time goodness and loving care for all his children. God’s parental tenderness can also be expressed by the image of motherhood, which emphasizes God’s immanence, the intimacy between Creator and creature. The language of faith thus draws on the human experience of parents, who are in a way the first representatives of God for man. But this experience also tells us that human parents are fallible and can disfigure the face of fatherhood and motherhood. We ought therefore to recall that God transcends the human distinction between the sexes. He is neither man nor woman: he is God. He also transcends human fatherhood and motherhood, although he is their origin and standard: no one is father as God is Father” (§239).

Indeed, no prayer is sweeter to the “ears of God” than the Our Father, for it is the prayer inspired in the Son by the Father and taught to us by the same Son, but which we can pray in truth only under the influence of the Holy Spirit. We should pray it often during the day. It builds up deeply within us child-like trust and confidence in God as Father. Such trust is not contradictory to the “fear of God”. Such fear is not a form of repulsion, but an awesome awareness of how great and good He is. The prodigal son showed this true fear as he ran back to the Father’s arms; the Father, in that same parable, showed the greatness of his goodness and kindness by running towards His son and kissing him tenderly. Who knows how many times in His earthly life, Jesus called out in all His joys and trials to “Abba! Father!”? Indeed, no one is father as God is Father, for no father is so near, so dear, so attentive, so compassionate, unfailing and constant. The heart of no father can compare to the infinite abyss of the merciful Heart of God the Father.

Secondly, man as father. St. Paul teaches us that “all fatherhood in heaven and on earth derives its name from God the Father” (Eph 3). While the fatherhood of God is not rooted in some kind of masculine gender in God, the fatherhood of men is rooted in the depth of their complete human reality: sexual, physiological, psychological, spiritual and sociological. This is the work of God the Father; it is His will, manifested in the way men are created. Thus the fatherhood of men imitates the fatherhood of God, not in creating as God creates, but in pro-creating in accordance with the will of God. And just as God the Father provides, conserves and preserves all creation in His loving power, so human fathers are called to provide, conserve, preserve the children God entrusts to their care. In particular, a father is called to educate, which means to draw forth from his sons and daughters, through encouragement and challenge, the full potential that God has given them. Think how many fathers spend their hard-earned money on the education of their children! They feel it in their very bones, not just as a duty, but as a calling, as the living out of their God-given fatherhood.

Of course there are many men who, for many reasons, may not be able physically to pro-create. Look at St. Joseph: yet, a finer example of human fatherhood is difficult to imagine. All that God creates is good; but the weakness and fragility introduced into the created order by sin sometimes disorders God’s order. Faithful to Christ’s teaching, we must always seek to be understanding and compassionate towards any man who finds himself in a situation that would not be in accordance with the created order established by God. Yet, even in some of these cases, by God’s Providence, men who cannot have their own children can still marry and adopt an orphan, or indeed not marry and give themselves to some form of service that will benefit children in growing: as teachers, doctors and so on. So every man can, if he searches for it, also mature in himself, psychologically and spiritually, as a father. But all of this must be done in accordance with God the Father’s will. Some of the initiatives we have seen taken in modern times are contrary to that will. Just as it is morally wrong to beget children out of wedlock, something which causes great harm and hurt to a number of people in the process, so it is morally wrong to beget children in test-tubes or to consider the obtaining of a child as some kind of personal right or commodity. Further, just as a father, to be a father in the fullest sense of the divinely created order, needs to beget a daughter or a son in the intimate and permanent union of married sexual love with his spouse, so the child needs, by the divine will, to know the love of both father and mother to grow properly and to develop towards the vocation to which God is calling them. We do not help ourselves or further the cause of humanity by distorting the order created by God and then trying to rationalize it in political ideology, in immoral legislation and in judicial sentences which mock the law of God in the name of collective selfishness. Undoubtedly there are difficult and tragic cases, conflicts of interest and other such dilemmas. Still, we cannot make of these the model for right social living as if God, the Father and author of all society, had not already marked out for us the framework within which, as creatures, we can and must operate to find true happiness! Being human is not a human idea, but a divine idea. If we want to be truly happy human beings, it is God we must heed and not man.

Thirdly, the priest as father.  Priestly fatherhood finds its roots in the sacrament of holy orders whereby a man becomes conformed for ever to Christ the Priest, the incarnate Son of the Father, the Mediator between God and mankind. It is a spiritual fatherhood which, unlike physical fatherhood, remains for ever. It is rooted literally in the unbreakable bond of the Spirit who unites God the Father and God the incarnate Son. It is a fatherhood that does not so much depend on the priest himself, although he should strive with all his might to be as Christ-like as possible. Rather it depends on Christ working in him and through him. The priest is not father in his own right, but “in persona Christi” and by Christ’s grace. It is this which attracts you to him; yet, sadly, it is this that makes it all the more tragic when he fails your trust or that of your children. A priest can be your spiritual father by his counsel, care and concern, by his availability and presence. But it is above all in the sacramental ministry that, in Christ’s name, he exercises his spiritual fatherhood. From birth to death, the priest is there with you, for you: the individual identity of the man may change, but it is the same priestly fatherhood that stands by you, gives life to your souls in the administration of the sacraments. But he too is your father in educating you: my remit is not to speak my words, but the Word of Christ which is the Word of the Father, safeguarded by the Church and taught to give light to the eyes and peace to the soul. Sometimes those words may need to be tough; but they must always be clear and spoken with the conviction of one who loves with the love of Christ. No true father desires to hurt his children for hurting’s sake. But what kind of fatherly love is it if he does not discipline his sons and daughters, not just for temporary benefits, but so that they may share in the holiness and life of God (Heb 12)?

Blessed are You, Abba Father, the God of Our Lord Jesus Christ! Blessed be all you fathers here today in your efforts and sacrifices to love until the end those the Lord has entrusted to your care. And blessed am I, along with all my brother priests, for the unscrutable mercy of God who has entrusted us with the transmission of eternal life to you, through the Mysteries of Christ and of His holy Church. Indeed, it is a “happy fathers’ day”!

Msgr. Peter Magee

Trinity Sunday, June 15^th, 2003

7.00 am, St. Raphael’s, Rockville; 10.00 am, St. Matthew’s Cathedral, DC; 12.00 noon, St. Thomas. DC.