• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

“A much greater source of anxiety to Us is the style of action of those who maintain that liturgical worship should shed its sacred character, who foolishly say we should substitute for sacred items & furnishings ordinary common things in daily use.” —Pope Saint Paul VI (14 Oct 1968)

  • Donate
  • Our Team
    • Our Editorial Policy
    • Who We Are
    • How To Contact Us
    • Sainte Marie Bulletin Articles
  • Pew Resources
    • Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal
    • Jogues Illuminated Missal
    • KYRIALE • Saint Antoine Daniel
    • Campion Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Repository • “Spanish Music”
    • Ordinary Form Feasts (Sainte-Marie)
  • MUSICAL WEBSITES
    • René Goupil Gregorian Chant
    • Noël Chabanel Psalms
    • Nova Organi Harmonia (2,279 pages)
    • Roman Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Catechism of Gregorian Rhythm
    • Father Enemond Massé Manuscripts
    • Lalemant Polyphonic
  • Miscellaneous
    • Site Map
    • Secrets of the Conscientious Choirmaster
    • “Wedding March” for lazy organists
    • Emporium Kevin Allen
    • Saint Jean de Lalande Library
    • Sacred Music Symposium 2023
    • The Eight Gregorian Modes
    • Gradual by Pothier’s Protégé
    • Seven (7) Considerations
Views from the Choir Loft

Fatherhood

Fr. David Friel · June 22, 2012

In the Gospel for this Sunday of the 11th Week in Ordinary Time, Jesus speaks to the crowds in a very ordinary, everyday image. He uses the image of a farmer who sows seed in his fields. He makes the point that, while the farmer sows the seed, he can’t actually make it grow into grain. As for how the growth occurs, Jesus says, “[The farmer] knows not how.”

The growth, He says, occurs “of its own accord.” In Greek, the word for that is αὐτομάτη (as in “automatically”). A farmer can’t stare at the seed to make it grow. It doesn’t help if he kicks or screams or yells at it. A good crop requires a farmer to take the initial action of planting the seed, but its growth is mysterious. Analogously, then, the seed of the Kingdom of God—the seed of faith—can be planted, but how it takes root and grows remains mysterious.

Although Jesus is using the image of the farmer to describe the Kingdom of God, He could just as easily be using it to describe fatherhood. Think about it: a father is one who brings forth life. Conceiving any new life requires the initial action of a father sowing seed, but the subsequent growth of that seed is outside of his control. Just like the farmer, a father is resigned simply to accept the mystery by which his child grows and develops.

One of my sisters is a scientist, and she could tell me all about the various proteins and amino acids and DNA strands needed for life. But, even still—even with all that knowledge—we don’t have a totally complete understanding of how life comes into being and develops. Every father, then, stands unknowing before a tremendous mystery.

But, just because the growth of children isn’t completely within a parent’s control, that doesn’t mean there’s nothing they can do. Just like a farmer can water his crops and cultivate them with fertilizer and such, so parents have a responsibility to offer the same type of care to their children.

Parents provide food and shelter and clothing, to be sure. They also offer a warm and loving environment. When parents bring their children to the church to be baptized, there’s a line in the Baptismal ritual that instructs them to “make it [their] constant care to bring [the child] up in the practice of the faith.” They’re told to “see that the divine life which God gives [their child] is kept safe from the poison of sin, to grow always stronger in their hearts.” That’s quite a task!

While the physical growth of children is, in many ways, “automatic,” any parent surely can attest that the training of children in faith doesn’t happen by accident or by chance. It takes the witness of a father and a mother. It takes a father’s humility and a mother’s love. It takes a father’s diligence and a mother’s prayers.

We see enough examples in this world of fatherhood gone wrong. We see in our city, in our neighborhood, sometimes in our own families the terrible effects of absent fathers. We know the struggle of living with cold or abusive fathers. We know all too painfully the damage caused by priests who weren’t the good fathers they should have been. So, even as we celebrate the gift of fatherhood, we need to challenge our fathers—and all the men around us—to be good, strong, truly fatherly figures.

Fatherhood is a beautiful vocation. It’s a calling to be a leader, a protector, and a provider. It’s a calling to be strong and mature and holy. Today, and throughout the year, let’s turn to St. Joseph and pray that all our fathers may be good images of God, Who alone is the perfect Father of us all.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

Subscribe

It greatly helps us if you subscribe to our mailing list!

* indicates required

About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel is a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and serves as Director of Liturgy at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary. —(Read full biography).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    “Music List” • 15th in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (13 July 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. As always, the Responsorial Psalm, Gospel Acclamation, and propers for this Sunday are also provided at the the feasts website.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    This coming Sunday—13 July 2025—is the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). All the chants have been conveniently assembled and posted at the feasts website. The OFFERTORY, Ad Te Levávi, is particularly beautiful.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Music Director Job • $80,000 per year
    Our readers will be interested in this job offering for Music Director at Saint Adalbert’s Basilica, located 40 minutes from where I live. My pastor was recently elevated to this basilica. He is offering $80,000 per year, plus benefits. I’m told Saint Adalbert’s Basilica is utterly gorgeous and contains one of America’s most magnificent pipe organs. It would be fantastic to have a colleague nearby!
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

I am convinced that if the Church is to prosper in the present age, it cannot hesitate to embrace and support traditional Catholics, traditional liturgies and traditional moral values. “Do not conform yourself to this age,” St. Paul warned followers of Christ. (Rom 12:2)

— Most Rev. Thomas Tobin, Bishop of Providence (12 August 2022)

Recent Posts

  • “Music List” • 15th in Ordinary Time (Year C)
  • Worship the Lord in Holy Attire
  • “How to Conduct 90 Vespers Services Each Year and Live to Tell the Tale.”
  • 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
  • The Tallis Scholars

Subscribe

Subscribe

* indicates required

Copyright © 2025 Corpus Christi Watershed · Isaac Jogues on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.

The election of Pope Leo XIV has been exciting, and we’re filled with hope for our apostolate’s future!

But we’re under pressure to transfer our website to a “subscription model.”

We don’t want to do that. We believe our website should remain free to all.

Our president has written the following letter:

President’s Message (dated 30 May 2025)

Are you able to support us?

clock.png

Time's up