Happy Father’s Day: Your Weekly Catholic Reflection
In this week’s gospel Jesus tells his disciples: For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it (Luke 9:24).
Jesus poses both possibilities, of losing or saving one’s life, as a choice. No one is forced into a sinful life, nor is anyone compelled to become a Christian; in both cases our free will lets us decide for ourselves whether we will make the sacrifice and bear the cross of a life of service and helping others.
Self-sacrifice is part and parcel of being the father of a family. For those of us lucky enough to have had one, a father means protection and love. Growing up, he was someone you could turn to for guidance and advice… Maybe he was the one who taught you how to ride a bike or about the value of money. Maybe he told you stories before bedtime, or took you camping and slept with you under the stars.
Not everyone is so lucky. For many children, the lasting memory of their father is his absence. Maybe he moved to another city to take a job so he could provide for his family, or died courageously serving his country, or maybe an illness took him away too soon. Or perhaps he forgot how important he was and left. Whatever the reason, the absence of a father impacts an entire family.
Today, we would like to share with you the story of a father we are blessed to know, who stayed and persevered, and whose love and dedication made all the difference in his daughter’s life.
Meet Joanna and her father, Carlos. They live in Huancayo, in the central highlands of Peru, where nearly 1 in 4 people live in extreme poverty. Joanna was born with Down Syndrome and for her, every day is a challenge – when we met her, she was heavily stigmatized at school, and her motor skills and social behavior were regressing quickly. Our Rehabilitation with Hope program therapists helped her through physical therapy and socialization, and we are ecstatic to see her making significant strides.
But it’s clear that the real reason she is happier and healthier today is because of her father’s love, determination, and sacrifice. Carlos supports her progress at home every day, even while also raising Joanna’s brother, and working a full-time job. Carlos’s love of Joanna constantly shines through, and we see that love in her face when we see her dancing to her favorite music and playing with her family dog, Candy.
Carlos is an anomaly. In this part of Peru, about 65% of fathers of children with disabilities leave their families. Not only did Carlos stick around – he became one of his daughter’s main caregivers. He was there when she was ostracized by her peers at school and lost her confidence, and he was the one that helped to build her back up.
In this week’s verse, Jesus shows us that there is a paradox: the person who seeks to save his life in the short run will lose his life in the end. Carlos put his daughter’s needs before his own, and instead of “saving” his own life and leaving her as so many other fathers in his situation have done, he stayed, and is experiencing the incredible joy of her progress – a gift that uplifts his own life, as well as everyone around him.