Catholic Dads

As Iron Sharpens Iron II

July 5th, 2012

I posted before about the ways my daughter has helped me to draw nearer to God. That was about two years ago. Since then I have had ample opportunity to reflect on this.

For instance, every Sunday during Orthros I am struck by a line from the Psalms “Just as a father has compassion on His children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.” Every week it hits home and I reflect on how much I love my Princess and how much more the Lord must love the both of us.

The other week she was Chrismated and received the Eucharist for the first time. She cried, sobbed and whined the whole time. I heard Father’s homily and I heard him saying that none of us is truly in control and we must surrender to the will and providence of God, but I didn’t really let it sink in. After the Divine Liturgy a woman in the parish asked me about the chrismation and first eucharist and I made a terse comment about my daughter’s behavior. She then reminded me of Father’s homily and that we can plan all we want but we are not really in control. If not for my daughter’s crying and sobbing that homily might not have carried the weight that it does now.

All of us were told before we became fathers that children are a blessing and that they are precious. As the Psalmist wrote children are a blessing from God, they are like arrows in a man’s quiver. However, we have no way of realizing just how much of a blessing they are beforehand.

Close Bookmark and Share This Page

Save to Browser Favorites / Bookmarks