LIFE MARRIAGE & FAMILY: The Gifts of Fatherhood
By Mark Griffin
In this month during which we celebrate Father’s Day, it seems appropriate to reflect on the gift of fatherhood. As a father of nine, I have asked myself the question, “What are the three most important gifts that I can give to my children?”
The first is the gift of faith, which is the most valuable of my possessions; my faith in, and love for God who gave me life, who strengthens me, and invites me to share eternity with Him. I believe that sharing this with my children and bringing them to God and His sacraments is the ultimate gift I could offer to them.
The second gift is to love and respect their mother. If my children regularly witness this, they will feel safe and loved and will have stability within our family environment. Not only is this something in which they can take comfort, but it is also a model from which they can draw upon in their own future vocations.
Children are like mirrors. My children regularly reflect to me what I model for them. If I strive to always love and respect their mother, they are seeing something worthy of reflection.
The third gift is the gift of siblings. We were all made to live as family. In scripture God declares, “Let us make man in our own image, afterour likeness” (Gen 1:26). Notice that God is speaking in the plural. God is a Trinity.
This trinity is a communion of the divine persons and a communion of life and love. Being made in God’s image and likeness means that we have been made to reflect that trinitarian union. Just a few verses later, God gives the command, “Be fruitful and multiply” (Gen 1:28).
On our wedding day, my wife and I declared before the Church our willingness to accept children lovingly from God and we meant what we said! In the introduction to his 1968 encyclical’, Humanae Vitae, Pope Paul VI states, “The transmission of human life is a most serious role in which married people collaborate freely and responsibly with God the Creator” (HV, 1).
The use of the word ‘freely’ here does not mean God leaves this entirely up to us. It is acknowledging that in every decision we make, we have the freedom to choose God’s will or our own. This is the difference between love and sin.
The Holy Father later clarifies this meaning when he goes on to say that a husband and wife “are not free to act as they choose in the service of transmitting life, as if it were wholly up to them to decide what is the right course to follow. On the contrary, they are bound to ensure that what they do corresponds to the will of God the Creator” (HV, 10).
My ultimate aim as a father is to spend eternity with my wife and children in Heaven. I see that in each and every occurrence when offering these gifts (and many others), we are paving the path towards eternity together.