Today's coinciding of the secular celebration of Fathers' Day and the solemnity of Corpus Christi leads me to reflect upon the beautiful gift of spiritual fatherhood—of the priesthood in particular. I am so grateful for all the wonderful priests who have touched by life.
These are the men who have reflected not only the light of Christ, but the image of the Father. They have helped me to understand in a deeper way how much our Father in heaven loves us, how much He provides for us in giving us priests to stand before us with the very human love we desire, to meet us face to face as He cannot do until we finish our time of purification and come before Him at last.
Our own fathers reflect that same image of the Father. For they too are priests in a sense—by their baptismal priesthood—and carry out their vocation of fatherhood in the domestic church of the family.
I think today also of those who have never had an example of a good father and whose ideas of God the Father have therefore been skewed. I pray that they will find the Father they seek.
May our Lord bless abundantly all those who reflect His image of fatherhood! I carry in my heart today in a special way all the priests who have touched my life, particularly as I go to approach the altar and to receive the Body and Blood of Christ on this blessed solemnity. I pray that all priests may remain faithful to the voice of the Father within them that He may continue to speak through them and to transform them ever more into His face upon this earth.
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