Happy 16th Birthday Catherine Therese!!

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Although you'll never read this my sweet Catherine, I love you. 16 years ago you changed our life forever. All of your siblings have done this in their own way but you have done so in a very special way. You have made me more empathetic, compassionate, and much more prayerful. Your smile lights up the world around you and we are all blessed by it.  It's not easy living with a saint. You remind me of my weakness and limited time on this earth. You challenge me to go deeper within myself and find what the Lord is trying to teach me...usually patience. You are made in His image and likeness but He uses you so that I can see my own beauty, goodness, and shortcomings.  You struggle mightily against me with every bath, diaper change, and wardrobe change. I struggle mightily with Him against all the changes He wills in my life. You depend on me and your mom for even the simplest of things. You teach me to depend on Him for everything and not rely on my on strength. You teach me that I
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Trusting Like St. Joseph

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Matthew 1:18-25

Many, many years ago (17 to be exact) I had a conversation with my oldest son, Anthony, who was five at the time. It still stands out in my mind all these years later and it continues to guide my interaction with my children today (although I do need constant reminders).

Anthony was rearranging ornaments on the Christmas tree and I simply said, "I love you Anthony." 

He replied, "I love you too dad." 

Then I said, "You know that I love you, right?" 

To which he replied, "Yes, I know you love me." 

So my next question, the one I had been planning to ask was launched, "How do you know that I love you?"

I was blown away by his answer, "Because you play with me." 

A simple, honest answer but there was an almost insignificant pause and he added, "sometimes."

My heart almost broke, I recognized the pause but didn't make an issue of it. I moved on to ask in what ways do I play with him. It was the usual - letting him be the bull rider and me the bull, him Peter Pan and me Captain Hook, flipping him over my head, charging the castle (house) etc. It was all the rough and tumble, adventurous stuff that fills the world of boys...and men! I made a personal resolution to make myself more available for play to Anthony and all my children. The "sometimes" was unacceptable in my book!

I think of all this today as the Church gives us a short reading about St. Joseph and his struggle with, and acceptance of, the will of God in Mary's pregnancy. He may not have understood fully his role at the time but he trusted in the Lord. Here we could echo Elizabeth's words to Mary, "Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled."(Lk. 1:45) We could also paraphrase St. Paul's words and apply them to Joseph, "Abraham Joseph believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”(Rom. 4:3) Joseph trusted the Lord and that the Heavenly Father would make him a suitable father for His Son.

I often like to think of what sort of things Joseph and Jesus did. Did he make forts for Jesus? Did he make swords? Did he spin Jesus around until they were both dizzy falling to the floor laughing? Did Mary roll her eyes as they wrestled on the floor or told endless "knock-knock" jokes?

Joseph was a "just man" and he is an example for all fathers. The Father trusted Joseph enough to take care of Jesus. The Father trusts us enough to care of the children He gives us. If we want to be good fathers, we must look to St. Joseph and our Heavenly Father for example. With this new Adam and New Eve, Joseph and we fathers hear the primordial command in regard to our family garden...The LORD God then took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it. (Gen. 2:15) To till and protect. Shovel in one hand, sword in the other, we too must build up and defend our family garden always trusting, as Joseph did, that the Lord will give us the strength and grace to do so.

Thank you Lord for your trust in me. Help me to imitate You and St. Joseph so that I might be the best father I can be always not just "sometimes" because for our children LOVE is spelled P-L-A-Y and T-I-M-E.

FROM THE SAINTS -Love for his wife as mother of their children and love for the children themselves are for the man the natural way of understanding and fulfilling his own fatherhood. Above all where social and cultural conditions so easily encourage a father to be less concerned with his family or at any rate less involved in the work of education, efforts must be made to restore socially the conviction that the place and task of the father in and for the family is of unique and irreplaceable importance. As experience teaches, the absence of a father causes psychological and moral imbalance and notable difficulties in family relationships, as does, in contrary circumstances, the oppressive presence of a father, especially where there still prevails the phenomenon of "machismo," or a wrong superiority of male prerogatives which humiliates women and inhibits the development of healthy family relationships. - Pope John Paul II (the Great) - Familiaris Consortio # 25

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