“Our Fathers, Who Are in Heaven or on Earth” by Bishop DiMarzio

June 11, 2014 – Excerpted from “Put Out Into the Deep”, Bishop DiMarzio’s column in The Tablet:

This week, we have the coincidence of celebrating Trinity Sunday and the secular holiday of Father’s Day. It is a happy coincidence, because as we meditate on the mystery of the Blessed Trinity, we recognize that it is the teaching of Jesus that reveals to us the Blessed Trinity, especially His relationship to His Heavenly Father. Jesus told us that He and the Father were one, that He had come to do the Father’s will and that in effect there was no division between them but only a union solidified by complete love, which the Holy Spirit gives to the life of the Trinity.

Also, we cannot forget St. Joseph who was the guardian of Jesus during His life, recognized by most as His earthly father. We recognize in Joseph’s sacrificial paternity the necessary element of sacrifice, which all fathers worth the name must give in order to truly reach the pinnacle of fatherhood. We see in the relationship of Jesus to the one known as His earthly father and His Heavenly Father. It is the ideal relationship that a father must have with his children.

Read the full text of the Bishop’s column on The Tablet website.