Father's day

FATHER’S DAY




Good morning/evening everyone, I am so happy to see you all and my special welcome to all our parishioners, cottagers, visitors and every one who are here today. Dear friends, every time we come to Church, we celebrate the kingdom of God, celebrate the Father God who sent His Only Son Jesus Christ to preach the kingdom of God and every time we come to Church, we celebrate Jesus who gave us the blessing to call God Father.

As we celebrate Father’s day, I invite you all to meditate upon the graciousness and mercy of God our Father and thank Him for giving us generous and kind fathers who dedicate and sacrifice their time, energy and resource to make us strong, wonderful and responsible citizens in the world.

One day on father’s day, two sons decided to do something to their fathers and they pooled all their money and bought a beautiful religious horse for him. It was religious because when anyone says, “Amen”, the horse will stand still and if it hears, “praise the Lord” will run like anything else. It was well trained to the two words Amen and praise the Lord. The sons gave the horse to their dad and explained the meaning of amen and praise the lord. Amen means it will stop, stand still and praise the lord means it will run. The dad thanked them and jumped on the horse and the horse began to run so fast and at one point, he forgot what to say, the horse was running so fast and went on a hill. The man got so afraid and thank god he remembered the word. He screamed saying, “Amen” the horse stopped on the edge of the cliff. He was so happy and then he thanked god saying, “Praise the Lord”.

The Father God is our creator and when He breathed the breath of life into the nostrils of people, life began. Adam and Eve began their spiritual journey on earth. But as they went away from God, their life source was taken away from them; they experienced suffering, pain, sickness and eventually death. But God who loves His creatures so much sent His son who again breathed on the disciples saying, ‘ Receive the Holy Spirit” and thus life was restored and that life is still continuing through people. Yes, God calls men in a special way to continue His creation activity. Continuing His creation activity demands tremendous spiritual responsibility. They have to sacrifice and dedicate themselves more than hundred percent to protect their family and raise their children holy. Where can they draw energy to do so? They can draw spiritual energy and strength only from God. On this father’s day, we especially thank God for our fathers for their dedication and sacrifice and ask God to bless them.

One day a dad helped his son to go to bed saying, “ Son, do not bother me any longer. The lights are off, just sleep’ but within five minutes the son called saying, ‘dad, I want a glass of water’. The dad said, “you had your chance, now go to bed” Five minutes later again, “dad, I want a glass of water’. The dad was so annoyed and said, “if you ask for water again, you will get a good spank” the son called again and said, ‘Dad, when you come to spank me, bring me a glass of water’.

In the gospels, Jesus says how much even the mortal fathers love their children saying, if you ask for fish, will he give you a snake, will he give you a stone instead of bread. They know how to give you good things. Yes, fathers know how to protect and love their children. Because of the earthly fathers, children learn to love more and more the heavenly Fathers. As Jesus says, They come to know, even the mortal fathers know how to give good gifts to children how much more the heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit the life to those who ask Him. That is why Jesus says, “Ask, you will receive, search, you will find and knock the door will be opened”.

Father is the one who knows the meaning of forgiveness and acceptance. Though his children are like prodigal son going away from him, wasting their lives and living an immoral life but when they come back to him saying, ‘dad, I am sorry. Please forgive me”. They will never get mad at them, instead he will accept them immediately saying to every one, “my son or my daughter was lost and now they are found. They were dead and now they are alive”

Conclusion: As we celebrate father’s day, let us thank God for fathers who raise their children strong and religious and who dedicate their lives for their family and children. May God bless them. Now let us have a special prayer for them. Amen.