Delighting in the Father – Your Catholic Weekly Reflection from CMMB

Everything that the Father has is mine. —John 16:15

For all the life lessons, reassuring support, and many other ways they have left a mark in our lives, today we honor our fathers. And for those who have lost their fathers, we are reminded that, as Christians, God is the ultimate Father. On this occasion, CMMB board member Father Michael Hilbert shares with us a special reflection on fathers, both earthly and heavenly, and what we can learn from them.

Throughout history, fathers have given wise advice to their sons and daughters. King David told his son Solomon, “Be confident and determined, and do what the Lord your God orders you to do” (1 Kings 2:2-3). Old Polonius counsels his hot-headed son Laertes, “Neither a borrower nor a lender be” (Hamlet, I, iii, 75). Rudyard Kipling offered paternal advice to his son John in the Poem “If”: “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you…if you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, or walk with kings―nor lose the common touch…you’ll be a Man, my son.”

When I played softball as a kid, I didn’t win any trophies. My dad once put his hand on my shoulder and said, “Don’t feel bad if you strike out. That just means we can get out of here sooner!” My dad’s best advice ever was, “Ask your mom.” I’m sure St. Joseph would agree.

Today is Father’s Day, and it is also the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. In the Gospel of John, Jesus sounds a bit like a father to his disciples: teaching them, praying for them, warning and encouraging them. Blessing them.

And today we celebrate the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God the Father, we know, is the Creator of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen. God the Son is God incarnate in Jesus Christ, God with us, who taught, healed, suffered and died for us. What does the Holy Spirit do?

The German theologian and mystic Meister Eckhart has a take on the Trinity that makes me smile, and I hope it will make you smile, too.

“The Father laughs with the Son, the Son laughs with the Father; the Father likes the Son, the Son likes the Father; the Father delights in the Son, the Son delights in the Father; the Father loves the Son, the Son loves the Father. This laughing and liking and delighting and loving of God, is God the Holy Spirit!“

I remember Pope Francis once saying, “The Holy Spirit is God’s action in us.”

I invite you to speak out loud these words of Meister Eckhart, saying your name in place of “the Son.” “The Father laughs with Mike, Mike laughs with the Father.” Whenever I’m feeling low, I try to say, “God, you like me, and God, I like you.”

Today Jesus tells his disciples (us!) that He and the Father are one, and He promises the Spirit, the Consoler―the laughing, delighting, loving action of God―to all who believe in this truth. “Everything the Father has is mine.” I love my mother and father. The older I get, the more I value everything that they gave me.

—Michael Hilbert, S.J.

Wishing all dads a blessed and Happy Father’s Day,

CMMB/Healthier Lives Worldwide