Happy Father's Day

My heart and mind have been flooded with many thoughts since Pentecost. Oh, what a beautiful Mass it was with five priests in the sanctuary, vested in red, offering their prayers. I had a great view singing from the loft. We sang the Schubert. The soloists were marvelous and I can't express how this beautiful music lifts my heart and mind to God even more. There are no photos; there are no recordings. We simply enjoy the gifts.

I want to share some other gifts with you: a gecko showing off his ruby throat, three very young deer who munched on grass and gamboled around the pond for nearly 30 minutes on my evening walk, a furry-purry cat on my belly, scribbling in bed, swimming in the ocean, Dagny making a lemony cheesecake, fresh watermelon, Max mowing the grass, my husband cooking steaks last night for Father's Day.

Today we celebrate Father's Day and the Blessed Trinity and I can't help but think how blessed our children are because Michael reflects the love of our heavenly Father. What strikes me most is his self-sacrificial nature. From the beginning, he was willing to give up sleep, his time, and his very self so that he could provide for us and be with us more. I know he will die to protect us. He has become a man after God's own heart. I see how the graces flow down to our family through him. When he stumbles, we all do. When he is strong, we gain strength too.

The law of love is written upon our heart, even when we do not believe in God. So you can imagine how rich we feel now that we are living in friendship with God. He is always by our side to give us all the necessary helps and graces.

I feel terrible that in our culture men and their gifts and talents are not celebrated as we should. The so-called emancipation of women and the sexual revolution has emasculated men. I had mentioned that Sister Jane spoke about women being the stitchers of standards. Here's how she explained it. A society is only as virtuous as the typical woman. If a woman's morals are loose and low, so are the man's. A man can only feel the self-sacrificial love for a woman who is worthy. Remember that the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. What kind of a society do we want? Let's work towards that.

Man is prophet, priest and king of his household! Fathers, don't forget to bless your wife and children -- you have this great power and privilege!!! May God bless you abundantly.

I just came across this on the ADW blog and had to share:

Finally there is a rather remarkable conclusion that some have drawn: the best image of God in us is not a man alone, or a woman alone, but rather a man and a woman together in a lasting and fruitful relationship we call marriage. For when God said, “Let us make man in our image” (Genesis 1:26) the text goes on to say, “Male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). And God says to them, “Be fruitful and multiply” (Gen 1:28). So the image of God (as God sets it forth most perfectly) is the married and fruitful couple.

Here of course we must be careful to understand that what we manifest sexually, God manifests spiritually. For God is not male or female in His essence. Thus we may say, The First Person loves the Second Person and the Second Person loves the First Person. And so real is that love that it bears fruit in the Third Person. In this way the married couple images God, for the husband loves his wife and the wife loves her husband, and their love bears fruit in their children. [1]