For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with might through his Spirit in the inner man, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fulness of God. – Ephesians 3:14-19
We have been considering the truth that we are created in the image of God and can only find our identity by growing into that image.
We noted that God created humans “male and female.” The completion of this twofold creation is fatherhood and motherhood.
To be a mature man is to grow into a fatherly identity.
To refuse to become fathers is to resist growing into our full humanity, resulting in arrested human and spiritual development.
Being a father involves a lot of specific tasks and roles, as any parent knows well.
But the essence of being a father is not merely a matter of doing a job; it is taking on a whole character. Every one of us is meant to grow into being a father all the time.
Many men who sire offspring are not fathers in any true sense.
Many others don’t have biological children but are genuine fathers. The Church recognizes this by calling the pope our Holy Father, by giving the name of “Abbot” (father) to the heads of monasteries, and by calling every parish priest Father.
Most of us will grow into our fatherly character through the high privilege and duty of caring for children, but we are called to express a fatherly character all the time.
In marriage, we must learn to become fathers even before we have children.
In consecrated life, we must take on a fatherly character appropriate to that state of life.
If we are single or our children are grown, and out of the house, the Lord still wants us to be fathers.
Our identity as fathers expresses the truth that we are created for love.
No man can be a father in isolation. God himself is not alone: he is Father, Son, and Spirit—three persons in one essence.
When he takes up his life within us by the Holy Spirit, he draws us into that pattern of love.
Losing this pattern of love as a father is a form of running from God and ourselves.
The perfect human father is Jesus.
Not only did he show a fatherly personality in his dealings with others, but he also constantly spoke about it.
He understood himself to be imitating and representing his Father: “Truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever he does, that the Son does likewise” (John 5:9).
Jesus is the perfect image of the Father.
As we imitate Christ, we will increasingly adopt his mind and character, which is the mind and character of the Father.
In your prayer today, ask for the guidance to know what it means to be a father.
You are more than a man; you are called to fatherhood. Who is the best “father” you have ever met?
What him good at being a father?
Is this something you can imitate?
