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