Blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways. // Psalm 128:1
When I was growing up, my dad was the headmaster at the private school my siblings and I attended. One year, he gave each of us a wallet-sized copy of his school picture and wrote a message on the back.
“To Rach,” my dad wrote to me, “my favorite 4th grade Swenson.”
My dad loved me for me, and I was Rachel, a Swenson, in the 4th grade.
I was seen and loved by my father.
The readings and responsorial today show the importance of fatherhood: We should honor our father and care for him in his old age. We should fear the Lord and walk in His ways.
The Gospel offers the perfect tie-in of the Heavenly Father to that of Our Lord’s earthly father in Saint Joseph cooperating with the Father’s will by getting Jesus to safety after His birth.
For those of us blessed to be seen and loved by good earthly fathers, we have a foretaste of Heaven. We have experienced a taste of the love that God our Good Father pours out.
The gift of God the Father’s love, however, is that it is available to each of us, in equal measure. We are all seen and loved for who we are—for who you are—by our Heavenly Father. The Father pours out His healing, all-knowing love into you.
God the Father, help me to experience Your love for me. Help me to know I am seen and loved unconditionally by You. Amen.
The Father pours out His healing, all-knowing love into you. // Rachel Balducci Click to tweet
Rachel Balducci is a writer and speaker and co-host of the Gist on CatholicTV. She has a Masters degree from the Grady School of Journalism at the University of Georgia and teaches at Augusta University and is working on her doctorate in Religion at the University of Georgia. She and her husband Paul have five sons and one daughter and are part of an intentional Christian community in Augusta, Georgia. Find out more about her here.
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