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Jesus said to them: “I have come into this world so that a sentence may fall upon it, that those who are blind should see, and those who see should become blind. If you were blind, you would not be guilty. It is because you protest, ‘We can see clearly,’ that you cannot be rid of your guilt.”

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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

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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).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    “Music List” • 4th Sunday of Easter (Year C)
    Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 4th Sunday of Easter (11 May 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. I don’t know a more gorgeous ENTRANCE CHANT than the one given there: Misericórdia Dómini Plena Est Terra.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Entrance Chant” • 4th Sunday of Easter
    You can download the ENTRANCE ANTIPHON in English for the 4th Sunday of Easter (11 May 2025). Corresponding to the vocalist score is this free organ accompaniment. The English adaptation matches the authentic version (Misericórdia Dómini), which is in a somber yet gorgeous mode. If you’re someone who enjoys rehearsal videos, this morning I tried to sing it while simultaneously accompanying my voice on the pipe organ.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Music List • “Repertoire for Weddings”
    Not everyone thinks about sacred music 24/7 like we do. When couples are getting married, they often request “suggestions” or “guidance” or a “template” for their musical selections. I created this music list with repertoire suggestions for Catholic weddings. Please feel free to download it if you believe it might give you some ideas or inspiration.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    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
    When to Sit, Stand and Kneel like it’s 1962
    There are lots of different guides to postures for Mass, but I couldn’t find one which matched our local Latin Mass, so I made this one: sit-stand-kneel-crop
    —Veronica Brandt
    The Funeral Rites of the Graduale Romanum
    Lately I have been paging through the 1974 Graduale Romanum (see p. 678 ff.) and have been fascinated by the funeral rites found therein, especially the simply-beautiful Psalmody that is appointed for all the different occasions before and after the funeral Mass: at the vigil/wake, at the house of the deceased, processing to the church, at the church, processing to the cemetery, and at the cemetery. Would that this “stational Psalmody” of the Novus Ordo funeral rites saw wider usage! If you or anyone you know have ever used it, please do let me know.
    —Daniel Tucker

Random Quote

“So, as in delirium a man talks in a long-forgotten tongue, now—when her heart is rent—the Catholic Church drops twenty centuries without an effort, and speaks as she spoke underground in Rome, and in Paul’s hired house, and in Crete and Alexandria and Jerusalem.”

— A non-Catholic describing the “Hagios O Theos” of Good Friday in 1906

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