Saturday, June 15, 2019
God bless our Fathers with Pastor Carlos
God bless
our Fathers
Not too long ago the roles
of mothers and fathers were clearly defined: fathers were the “breadwinners”
and mothers were the ones actively involved in the parenting of their children.
Nowadays, in most families both parents work. Some mothers complain to me
wishing their husbands would be more present to their children.
I have been watching the
lectures of a human behavioral biology class from Professor
Robert Sapolsky
from Stanford. They’re freely available online. I am learning all kinds of
interesting facts. For example: babies recognize their mothers very quickly
from various factors like odor cues, and also from having heard their mother’s
voices in the womb.
I have also learned that
compared to all other species, human babies do most of their maturing outside
the womb, and so during infancy and childhood fathers can play a huge role in
the development of the child. Human beings are social animals. We learn by
modeling behavior. Studies have shown a correlation for both boys and girls in
what great positive impact good fathers can have on their children: in how they
feel about themselves, and how they develop.
The other day I was
speaking with a dad at the appreciation lunch for our catechists. He was
telling me how he wakes up at 3:00 AM for work, so that he can be free in the
afternoon to pick up his son from school. He was telling me how he’s been
talking to his older child about various careers available for her.
This dad is not the only
one. I have great admiration for the fathers in our community who in casual
conversation have shared about sacrifices they have made in their careers, in
order to be more present to their children.
I cannot help think of my
own father. I will always be grateful that he taught me how to ride a bike, how
to fly a kite, even for the math problems I did not like growing up, but he
used to give my sister and I during summer breaks from school; I am also
grateful for bringing our family from Colombia to this wonderful country so
that we could have a better life, and especially for instilling in my sister
and I the sense of making the world a better place. It was thanks to the many
conversations he initiated with me about my future, that I became open to
discerning a religious vocation.
May God bless all of our
dads, grandfathers, stepfathers and godfathers!
God bless, Fr. Carlos, OSA
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