Interesting Thoughts on Fatherhood

From Dawn Eden:

Catholic author Anthony Esolen believes that if priests were to strengthen their preaching on fatherhood, men would better understand the privilege and responsibility of fatherhood – and would be more likely to hear the call to priesthood. Interviewed via e-mail, the Providence College professor who has spoken of the need for men to recover masculine virtue observes, “If we could understand that God is our Father, then all at once we understand, in healthier and head-clearing terms, what it means that He is the Lord of Hosts – the Lord of Armies, as none of my students seem to know – and that He establishes a Church militant, on the offensive, against which the gates of Hell shall not prevail.”

“Young men relish the battle,” Esolen adds. “They are those strange creatures who fail to clear the low bar, but raise it high, and challenge them with a stern and loving look, and they will clear it. They rise to meet bold challenges, and slump beneath the mediocre.”

I've been attending weddings recently, and repeatedly I have been struck by a (seemingly) obvious truth: boys are future fathers and girls are future mothers. This is what we grow into, all of us. Not everyone will have physical children, but all of us become the mentors, the parent-types, the care-givers for the younger humans in our lifetimes and beyond. We are all meant to be icons of charity in a fallen world. And yet this is the one thing that all of the growing up years are designed to obscure. You are the point. You are the main and rightful focus of your attention. There is very little emphasis on entering into a life of self-giving or sacrificial love. There is a strong emphasis on doing what is needed to secure your happiness. Funny thing--one achieves happiness by giving oneself away.