“I delivered the poor who cried, and the fatherless who had none to help him. The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban. I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame. I was a father to the poor, and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know. I broke the fangs of the unrighteous, and made him drop his prey from his teeth.” – Job 29:12-17
A key grace of human fatherhood is the gift of establishing others in their vocations.
A father is fundamentally oriented toward others. He serves others by providing for and strengthening the necessary architecture of a successful life, thereby helping others become all they are meant to be in Christ.
We have been speaking about imitating our Heavenly Father.
What does our Heavenly Father do? “The God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish, and strengthen you” (1 Peter 5:10).
Here then are three aspects of a father’s influence: he restores, establishes, and strengthens.
God did not create us in the midst of a chaotic wasteland and leave us to fend for ourselves.
He provided us with what we need to prosper and grow.
So it is with earthly fathers. We see this most clearly in fathers of families.
A father is the natural guardian of his family’s good order.
He provides for the physical needs of his family.
He and his wife set the vision and determine the boundaries for their family’s life together, physically, spiritually, morally, and socially. It is the father’s special task to see that those boundaries, so necessary for the growth of those in his charge, are respected.
He helps his children develop habits of natural and spiritual virtue, and he sees that they gain necessary life skills.
He seeks the mind of his Heavenly Father toward each of his children and stays attentive to their unique gifts, special strengths, and vulnerabilities.
By his direction, by his thoughtful and loving care, and by his example, he calls them to discern and fulfill their God-given vocations.
A father expresses the same fatherly character outside his family, in keeping with his circumstances and vocation.
He is paternal but not paternalistic or condescending; he wears his fatherhood easily.
He helps those around him become all they are meant to be in Christ: his wife, his children, his parishioners, his colleagues, his employees, or his friends.
He remembers the battle for identity that everyone fights.
He helps all around him grow into authentic maturity.
Studies show the importance of the father’s establishing role.
When fathers regularly practice their faith and attend Mass, their adult children are far more likely to do so.
When fathers help to establish their children in their vocations, their children grow up secure in mind and spirit, clearer about who they are, and less vulnerable to destructive influences around them.
When fathers are absent, children have a much harder time getting established in life.
If we are to be of help in establishing others, we will need to be firmly and clearly established ourselves in the mind and heart of our Heavenly Father.
The more we are secure in our identity as sons of the Father, the better we will be able to serve others in Christ.
In our prayer today, let us put fear and selfishness behind us, working with Christ as he establishesGod’s kingdom in and through us.
