Everybody grew up with a different father. Even siblings raised in the same house can carry different versions of the same man.
Maybe your father yelled a lot, and now you brace yourself when someone raises their voice. Maybe he was mentally checked out, and now you find yourself checking out too. Maybe you never respected him, and now you don’t much care what anyone thinks. Maybe he was completely absent, and you’re still picking up the pieces. Maybe he was absolutely amazing.
No matter the case, we all carry the effects of our father. Some call these father wounds. Sometimes they’re fatherly blessings. Most of us probably carry some of both.
Fatherhood — or the lack of it — is a gap a lot of people are trying to close right now. Speaking for my own generation, I see so many men genuinely trying to be good dads. Some of them had good examples to follow. A lot of them didn’t.
It’s fitting, then, that on our calendar — both the civil one and the liturgical one — the Feast of the Sacred Heart falls just days before Father’s Day.
Through the Person of Jesus Christ, and through His Most Sacred Heart, we see the love of the Father. True love from the true Father. We see what it means to care, to protect, to give, to love — without condition, without holding back.
My own prayers tend to default to things like “Lord, have mercy on me. God, forgive my weakness, forgive my sin.” And those are good prayers. We should keep praying them.
But we also have to remember: while we have a Father in Heaven who is demanding — who asks much of us — He is also a Father who is generous, who gives much. Far more than He asks.
This time of year, in particular, I’d encourage each of us to take up a different kind of prayer. Not just “Lord, have mercy.” But also:
“God, You are a loving Father.”
Say it. Sit with it. Let it be true.
Reflections by:
Mark Quaranta
Mark Quaranta’s daily reflections, formerly known as Summons, are now The Victor’s Crown. Subscribe for free at TheVictorsCrown.com. Paid subscriptions support the work and unlock premium content. Explore Mark’s prayer journals at PrayOnPaper.com.