FATHER'S DAY 2026

WAYS OF HONORING OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN AND OUR NATURAL FATHERS

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Good morning. This is Saul the Lewis Skirty, welcoming you to Friends of the Word. Now, our atmosphere is different. We're traveling. However, it is the 12th Sunday of ordinary time. And it is Father's Day, so we have to do a spiritual reflection. And I'll do Mass later on at a local church. But for now, I want to share this spiritual reflection with you on Father's Day. And just coincidentally, the Gospel of Matthew that we use today, Jesus refers to his Father. And you'll hear that in the Gospel. The Lord be with you. A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew. Jesus said to the twelve, Fear no one. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. What I say to you, in the darkness, speak in the light. What you hear whispered, proclaim on housetops. And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. Are not two sparrows sold for small coins, yet not one of them falls to the ground without your father knowing it. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid. You are worth far more than many sparrows. Everyone who acknowledges me before others, I will acknowledge before my heavenly father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly father. The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, Jesus tells us he's in tune with the Father, that's for sure. And his reputation on earth is connected to the Father. And it gives us that example today. You deny me on earth, and I'm going to deny you in heaven before the Father. He's going to say, I don't know this guy, then he, she never stood up for me, never stood up for what is right. So I'll I don't know them. We wouldn't want that. Of course, I have to think of my father, and we all think of our fathers. And the fathers in our immediate heritage was my grandfather, my father's father, Constantino, my mother's, Luciano, and of course, Frank, my own father. So we pray for them today and all your fathers, those who are in heaven, those who are alive, and those who are ill. In line with that, we pray for uh Bernard Higgins in Ireland. Uh he is ill. He's Laura's dad, and we pray for his recovery and his good spirits. We also pray for the repose of the soul of Frank Oliveri and all the fathers of our families. Jesus speaks to us about his father in an intimate way. The fact that he would say, You deny me on earth, and I'll deny you before my father brings us to heaven and earth at the same time. But it's it's so Jesus, because it's the example of the incarnation, Jesus, fully man, fully God, one with the Father, yet here on earth with us when he was talking to his disciples, the twelve. Denying God. Well, he tells us right off the bat, you know, there are many things on earth that we are afraid of. War, political climate, sometimes neighbors, sometimes evil itself. And there's so many things, there's so many things that we should be afraid of. But Jesus is telling us to not be afraid of the things that can harm our bodies, be afraid of the things that can harm our souls that would bring us to condemnation. What is that? Bad behavior, bad words, bad attitude? I mean, all the obvious, of course, the stealing, the backbiting, the gossip, and all that. That's all understood. But I think on this Father's Day, it's important for us to think about our own fathers, how they have affected us, how they influence us, the good and the bad. And not every father was a saint. My father was funny. Uh, he was good, good man. Um, my mother did this discipline in my family. My father, he was like the laid-back guy. Um, never been abused by my father, never hurt by them, by parents. And regrettably, some parents don't know how to be parents. They biologically can reproduce, but can't be good parents. Good parents is something I saw only yesterday when a friend of ours invited us over for a visit. And um Rick Ricky, who is the son of a student I had at St. Peter's University when it was St. Peter's College, I don't even remember the years, in the 80s. He was a student of mine and he was a baseball player. Met him when I came to Florida. Again, he came to church and said, I know you. And we started a friendship up about six years ago. Regrettably, Rick Richard passed away last year, and we pray for him today as well as his family, because what his mother's going to do, um, Ricky, the kid, and Gigi, the daughter, is being are being taken out by Janice, a New Jersey girl, to dinner in honor of their father on Father's Day. Strong influence he was on them. And a wonderful, wonderful person uh to make connection with me after all those years, and we picked up where we left off. As a matter of fact, we picked up in a better spot than where we left off because we were teachers, students, but when we came here, I'm in Florida, as you know. Um, the friendship began. It was really good for many years. So we pray for Ricky, Rich. I call him Rich, they call him Ricky, maybe, but we pray for Rich and the repose of his soul. And the influence fathers have on us, that's key. That's very important. Now, some fathers are really not good people, okay? Again, biologically they can make kids, but they can't rear them. They should be able to. Um, they can rear them, they can bring them up to trust in themselves, in his role as their father, and of course, trust in God the Father. And that's the whole thing with the gospel today. Jesus is telling us, listen, what you do here on earth is reflected later on. And to every kid, every kid, I don't care if you're 50 or 12, okay, every child has an obligation, I think, to understand his father or her father and live according to the guidelines they've given us. And how happens, what happens when the father gives no guidelines and he's a disgrace? Those are the times I think you people, if any of you who are listening to us, fall in that category, have to turn immediately to your father in heaven. That's the father you depend on. Jesus gave us his own father. You you deny me here, and I'll deny you there. But the intimacy between Father and Son, Jesus and Father, so important for us. And the fact that he made it our father, he made God our Father. So, with all the goods and ups and downs that we have as memories from our own parents, God is always our father in heaven. But today we honor our physical fathers here on earth. Fearing what really can ruin us, that's important. Think about how many aspects of society can ruin a person. Let's start with a kid with all the feeds and twitters and all those things. We project our media and our ministry on those platforms. But we have to admit the fact that those platforms could be misused and are misused. And who the greatest victims are the young kids, the the 12 to maybe 19, and maybe older, maybe younger. But that's one of the things that we should fear. As parents, I'm not a dad, I've got some Donna roaming around here somewhere, but she's hardly my child. That's what we should fear. The power of the internet, the power of AI, the power of media. Now, I don't think we should be hysterically paranoid about it, but I think we should be aware of it as a living entity that is a dangerous facility, a dangerous preoccupation, a dangerous experience. And parents, fathers, mothers included, guide your children away from that. And I know, I know it's hard to get them off the phone, it's very addictive. That's part of the plan. That's part of the plan. It was they were made to be addictive. Now, will um the creators of these platforms admit that? Not readily, but that's not our business. We don't care about that. We care about how it affects us and our children, all other children, all Christian children. And I have to say Christian children because that's how I'm speaking to Christians. Uh, another fear in our society, speaking of Christians, are the anti-Christian factors. And there are many. Some wholeheartedly come over from another country as a different culture, as a different religion, as a different socio-political entity. Yes, we should fear them. Because to not do anything about evil permits it. Seduction, it really sneaks in to our lives. And we look away, it grows and grows and grows. Look away more, it grows and grows and grows. So the Father is telling us, He'll give us strength. Jesus has given us over to the Father, and He's telling us don't fear what can hurt your body, hear, fear what can hurt your soul, your heart, your mind, your thinking. And that's the internet. Good news, bad news. It's wonderful because I'm reaching you through our through the internet, but yet it can be misused, as you know. So, fathers, you are standing in for God with your child. Boys, girls, doesn't matter. You're standing in for God. Treat your children as God would want you to treat them with love, respect, and with example. God bless you. This is Father Lewis Skurdy with Friends of the Word. Keep in touch.