MtM 02 - On father's day

Please allow me to share some reflections on the decade I lived with my daughter, without presuming to know what having a family really means. Fatherhood is born from love, is sustained by love and transforms us through love. There is nothing more important from the very first day parenthood becomes a reality. We hear how special it is to have children, yet nothing prepares us for the awesome feeling which bonds us completely with them, the only persons who mean the world to us, before we even know what they are thinking. Behind fatherhood is the invisible power of Love … it’s not an instinct … it’s not nature ensuring the continuation of the species. This love is God, God communicating his essence by revealing that life is only meaningful when shared with others. Before we realize a miracle occurred – and I don’t mean the kids – our self-interested, romantic passion is transformed into self-renouncing, altruistic devotion. We emerge imperceptibly from an egocentric shell to experience the delights of fatherhood, through emotions words cannot describe: the man we knew before parenthood is entirely different from our new self. A transformation is undergoing and its author is God who, like an artist, paints our canvas with love.

Parental love inspires us to provide the best for our children; it drives us to work hard and sacrifice for them. We realize the tables have turned: now we have become the role-models, the educators who must lead by example, demonstrating we are all truly empowered to make the world a better place. As boys who became fathers, we realize we are now, while tomorrow belongs to them. In every family across the globe, parents strive selflessly to ensure their kids will have opportunities they never did. Inspired by love, parents channel God’s desire to better the world for the good of mankind, one generation at a time. Believe me – nothing happens by chance! Life’s progression becomes clear when we stop to reflect. Fatherly love inspired my growth, leading me first to social work, then to a charity work with refugees – which is now my mission in life. I take no credit, for Love revealed that if I can love unconditionally one child, I can love many … if I can love my own, I can love others … if I want a kinder, gentler world for my daughter, then surely I want it for everyone, since it’s one patch of earth, under one sky, for one people of God!