Mystic Mantra: Honour your father

A little boy sat in his grandfather’s lap playing with his wrinkled cheek. He would alternately also stroke his own. “Daddy,” he asked, “Did God make you?” “Yes, my son,” he answered, “God made me a long time ago.” “And me too?” “Yes, indeed! God made you rather recently.” “Oh,” he blurted, “God’s getting better at it now, isn’t he?” Any dad would happily agree to the fact that God is getting better at creating new babies, particularly if he is the father or grandfather of the child. A dad is always proud and ecstatic to see his offspring, for he finds a part of himself in the child.

On June 19, in many parts of the world, including India, sons and daughters would be celebrating Father’s Day. In some countries like Austria, it was celebrated last Sunday. There is neither a universally fixed day nor a date to celebrate this significant day. In most countries it is celebrated on the third Sunday in June, as Mother’s Day is on second Sunday in May. Some celebrate it on March 19, it being the feast of Jesus’ foster father, St. Joseph. Coincidently, the first Father’s Day in the US was observed on June 19, 1910. The world owes thanks to one Sonora Smart Dodd, a loving daughter from Washington.

Sonora lost her mother when she was 16 and she witnessed her father’s struggle and devotion in bringing up her other five siblings. One Sunday in 1909, she heard a sermon in the church on Mother’s Day. While she undoubtedly missed her mother, considering the unstinted dedication of her own father towards all his children, she suddenly thought about the idea of celebrating a “Father’s Day”. And so it began and is rightly dedicated to us children to express our thanks and appreciation to our fathers for the vital role they play in our lives.

Since mothers take care of our most basic and immediate needs of feeding, bathing, etc., we get more attached to them, seldom realising how hard our dads work to keep the kitchen fire burning and to provide our mothers the means to fulfil all our needs. We also often mistake a father’s difficult task of disciplining us for his lack of affection. And by the time we realise that it is often too late.

While the Bible instructs us, “Honour your father and mother, if you honour your father and mother, things will go well for you, and you will have a long life on the earth,” it also asks us to worship God as the father of all creation and to honour Abraham as “our father in faith”. For, it is only God the Father who loves us unconditionally and real provider of our needs.