2023-06-17 17:01:00
June 17, 2023 / 10:01 a.m.
On the occasion of the celebration in many countries of Father’s Day this June 18, we share 9 keys from Pope Francis on how to be a good father.
1. Do not get tired of talking about faith to your children
The Holy Father has asked on June 1, 2023 on his Twitter account: “Dear parents, do not get tired of talking about your faith to your children: always have the strength to be mediators of the faith that you received from your parents”.
2. Accompany and be present
Pope Francis advised parents to be present at home and in their family and assured that it is necessary to “share the joys and sorrows with the woman, accompany the boys as they grow up.”
“The evangelical parable of the prodigal son shows us the father who waits at the door of the house for the return of the son who made a mistake. He knows how to wait, he knows how to forgive, he knows how to correct. Also today, when children return home with their failures, they need a father to wait for them, to protect them, to encourage them, to teach them how to stay on the right path. Sometimes she has to punish him, but she never slaps him in the face.”
3. Teach gently and firmly
Another key that Pope Francis taught during the General Audience on February 4, was that to be a good father is to “try to teach what the child does not yet know, correct the errors that he still does not see, direct his heart, protect him in discouragement and difficulty. All this with closeness, with sweetness and with a firmness that does not humiliate”.
4. Ask yourself which parents you want to be.
On another occasion, during an interview with Vatican mediathe Holy Father explained that “today’s children who will become tomorrow’s parents should ask themselves what parents they had and what parents they want to be.”
“They should not let their parental role be the result of chance or simply the consequence of past experience, but should consciously decide how to love someone, how to take responsibility for someone.”
5. Know how to withdraw at the right time
Pope Francis He also assured that a good father is when he knows how to retire at the right time so that his son can emerge with his beauty, with his uniqueness, with his choices, with his vocation”.
“In this sense, in any good relationship it is necessary to give up the desire to impose an image from above, an expectation, a visibility, a way to completely and constantly fill the scene with excessive prominence.”
6. Imitate Saint Joseph
The Holy Father also gave the example of Saint Joseph and his ability to “know how to step aside, his humility, which is also the ability to go into the background, is perhaps the most decisive aspect of the love that Joseph shows for Jesus” .
“In this sense, he is an important character, I would dare to say essential in the biography of Jesus, precisely because at a certain moment he knows how to withdraw from the scene so that Jesus can shine in all his vocation, in all his mission. In the image and likeness of Joseph, we must ask ourselves if we are capable of knowing how to take a step back, of allowing others, and especially those entrusted to us, to find in us a point of reference, but never an obstacle”.
The Holy Father also stressed the importance of asking “the Lord that the presence of a good father never be lacking in families, that he be a mediator and custodian of faith in goodness, justice and God’s protection, as was St. José”.
7. Pray with confidence
“Many times children will not admit failure, but they need a father like we all need to turn to the only Good Father, as the Gospel says, our Father who is in heaven,” the Pope said, alluding to dialogue with God at through prayer.
8. Lean on the Church
Pope Francis assured that “we must have the courage to say that the Church should not only be maternal but also paternal. That is, she is called to exercise a paternal, non-paternalistic ministry.
“And when I say that the Church must recover this paternal aspect, I am referring precisely to the paternal capacity to place children in conditions to assume their own responsibilities, to exercise their own freedom, to make choices.”
“If on the one hand mercy heals us, cures us, comforts us, encourages us, on the other hand God’s love is not limited simply to forgiving, to healing, but God’s love pushes us to make decisions, to take off”.
9. Help in failure
“A true father does not tell you that everything will always go well, but rather that even if you find yourself in a situation where things will not go well, you will be able to face and live with dignity even those moments, even those failures.”
“A mature person is recognized not in victories but in the way he knows how to live a failure. It is precisely in the experience of the fall and weakness that the character of a person is recognized”, assured the Holy Father.
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