+Happy Father’s Day to all our dads!
Share how important dad has been to you, especially in your priesthood. Growing up, Dad was utterly dependable and did anything he had to to provide for the family. For a couple of years he worked 3 jobs and we really only saw him on Saturday evenings and Sundays. Also he taught me to do the right thing no matter what the cost or popular opinion and many practical things like self-denial, humor, and how to handle finances. I notice, the older I get, how much I owe to my parents and how good they really are! More and more, I see the impact my dad has had on my heart, mind, and soul as I live out my own fatherhood spiritually as a priest and pastor.
Perhaps one of the greatest compliments I was ever given in regards to my dad happened when I was in seminary. My parents would invite out-of-town-students, whose families were far away. to come over and have dinner with the family. They could hang out, enjoy time away from their studies, and be in the middle of a family atmosphere. As we were leaving, one of my classmates remarked how strange it was for him to see me interacting with my dad as a friend. He could sense the mutual respect and comfort between the two of us and it was not something he had with his own dad.This relationship with my earthly father, so positive and life-giving has translated directly to the relationship I have with my spiritual father, God Himself! I hope all of you can say the same but more on that in a minute.
One of the things we did often as a family for entertainment was to visit the zoo. Maybe it felt and sometime smelt like home. More than likely it was because it was free and it wore us out. One complaint we all had was that the most magnificent animals were often the most boring. Especially the big cats. As a kid you were hoping to hear roaring and see fangs and other amazing things that lions and tigers are supposed to do. Instead, if you saw them at all, they were lying around trying to stay cool. The word I would use was lame. My dad had a great idea to raise money for the zoo and make it more exciting. Patrons could purchase small hunks of meat and throw them into the enclosure to rile up the creatures. He also had a concept that involved bb guns but neither idea went anywhere.
I bring this up, not to highlight my dad’s strange sense of humor but because, for many Catholics, praying is like going to the zoo. Maybe you will see God, maybe you won’t. Maybe he will do something, maybe he won’t but don’t get your hopes up too high.
The fact is, many, if not most Catholics do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. 1/3 of Catholics surveyed in a recent poll said that God was impersonal. In other words they could not have a living, dynamic relationship with Him. Another 19% were undecided. Only 48%, less than half, believed for sure that it was even possible for them to have a personal relationship with the Lord. Many Catholics buy into the myth that only protestants can have a lively personal relationship with God. That somehow we are just stuck with rules and traditions. But Jesus question in the gospel applies to every person who believes. “
Who do you say that I am?” he asks the apostles. He also asks us. How would you respond right now if the Lord asked you? Would you say friend, father, savior, protector, provider? Or might it be something a little more impersonal like, “nice guy”, friendly, pleasant, non-confrontational, distant?
All people are meant to have a real friendship with God. Jesus has given us his Word in the Scriptures and, even more impressively, His Body and Blood in the Eucharist. It doesn’t get more personal than that.
Jesus wants us to know who he is, what he loves, how he cares for us. He wants to have a relationship with us as a friend, savior, lord, protector, lover, and every other good thing.
If you are wondering how that happens, look to your human relationships. How do you build a friendship with people around you? Just as important, how do you maintain and deepen that relationship? You do so by making time to be with your friend, to both talk and listen, to get to know them better, to share important moments, trials and celebrations, dreams and disappointments. You let down your guard with your friends and even let them see you vulnerable, upset, and afraid. A friend gets to know your heart, the real you, good and bad. The same is true in our friendship with God; prayer is nothing more than building a friendship with God!
It might be helpful to examine our practice of prayer and the way we treat God. Would we have human friends if we treated them the same way? Do we only ask them for things or call when we are in trouble? Do we ask them what is the bare minimum we have to do for them to tolerate us? Do we talk and never listen or go days or even weeks without thinking of them or checking in? I hope not! We wouldn’t treat our friends this way and we should be careful we don’t do these things with God either otherwise it will be no surprise that we feel distant from him.
Going back to where I started, I am incredibly grateful for the friendship I have with my dad. I can talk to him anytime about anything. If I need advice, just want to shoot the breeze, share what’s going on, or even need comfort and reassurance, he is there. Most importantly, he has taught me that a friendship with God works exactly the same way. And as good as my dad is, God has his qualities in even greater perfection to benefit me and get me to heaven. Dare to be personal friends with God. It’s possible for all of us and it will enrich your life in every possible way.
