Dance Like David Danced
Recently I was privileged to go to a father-daughter dance with my two girls.
Aside from facing the reality of my hopeless lack of rhythm, or the concern I had over injuring my girls during the dances, the dance offered me a quiet epiphany in regard to the power God entrusts to a father in shaping the minds and hearts of his children; of his daughters.
Stewards, not Owners
A wonderful Peruvian priest I came to know in Tampa, Florida said to me after our first daughter was born, "God entrusts her to you as pure gift, with the awesome responsibility of being for her a convincing sign of His infinite fatherly love for her. HWC."
OMG
Sacrament of Love
I realized then, and realize a bit more each year, that this truth shapes how I relate to God. More specifically, as a father I find myself seeking God less for myself and more for my wife and our children.
I have also experienced the vocational sacrament of Marriage as the tap root of the vocation of parenthood. Or, put otherwise, the sacramental grace of marriage overflows into fatherhood/motherhood, making our paternity/maternity itself a Sacrament.
A Sacrament, meaning a living, effective, grace-dealing, Christ-chosen sign. A sign of Christ, who makes known to us the Father's strong, loving hand. Christ, who is God revealed as wholly worthy of trust.
'The one who feeds on me has eternal life'
Which turns us back toward my initial insight into the power of fatherhood.
Sacraments nourish. Our children, my daughters, feed off of the grace my wife and I bear in our marriage. That grace is mysteriously dependent on our willingness to become living sacraments; vivid signs of Christ, Icon of the Father. Marriage, in this image, is like a spring that wells up to eternal life in the midst of the domestic church.
Our children have a right to the Sacraments; and that includes a right to be nourished by our sacramental marriage.
Our children feed off of how well my wife and I pray together; sacrifice together; forgive together; love together. And inasmuch as we fail - which we do, Kyrie eleison! - our children fail to receive nourishing grace. But even there, in the midst of the thicket of my sins and shortcomings, grace super-abounds if I repent before the Father again and again.
Holy Matrimony
That's the pith of holiness for those of us honored by this nuptial overflow of sacramental grace called fatherhood and motherhood.
Fiat
As I danced on the dance floor with those pearls of great price, to songs unfairly targeting dreamers like me who are thinking such thoughts, I prayed: "Father, be who you are in me, in spite of me, for them..."
Amen.
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What a wonderful image of the father-daughter dance! My protestant background frowned upon dancing; however the father-daughter dance occurred at home. Listening to the big band sounds of Glen Miller and Benny Goodman encouraged dad to take my hand and place my feet on his, so we could move around the room together until I was old enough to remember the steps. Few things should be more special than dancing in daddy’s arms.
ReplyDeleteRecently, I was reflecting on the upcoming feast day of the Chair of Peter – thinking about the symbolism of a chair in my life. My father had the “all-knowing” and “all-present” chair in the living room. The love radiating from the chair – the Scrabble games, the crossword puzzles, the voice which read the books and the lap where I sat provided memories indescribable.
Within and in between all these activities, I was taught how a lady should be treated by a gentleman, how a husband should treat his wife and how a father should treat his children. Looking back I understand God’s manners (not infringing on our free will, but always gentle and kind), the intimacy of God’s love (faithful, protecting, embracing) and how eagerly we can jump into the lap of God to listen to his voice (Be still-know that I am God). Similarly, the Chair of Peter teaches us these things about God the Father and his relationship with us and the Church.
My dad was a father which had the experience of a grandfather (he was 50 when I was born). The chair of Peter has generations of experience to teach us about God the Father and his love.
Thank you dad because you have demonstrated these lessons to me and provided a good example of what a father can be. Rest in Peace (2/21/1994). Grant to him eternal rest O Lord and may perpetual light shine upon him.
Beads2.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your words, and your personal witness.
Your Dad - what a solid witness of fatherhood; and what a tender witness from you of a daughter's vantage.
May he rest in the Father's arms, where he, no doubt, speaks often of you.