The essay offers some explanation for the confusion and breakdown of the role of father in the modern world, explores God's fatherhood, and gives guidance on developing one's ability to be a father.
Here are two samples from the essay that might interest you:
Today we are aware that the lack of a father figure makes the child insecure and lacking in vigor. Because the child was not spurred on toward life, it has a greater difficulty in expressing itself creatively. A young person without a father does not know how to take on responsibility in the face of everyday choices and regards reality as hostile, as a stage filled with challenges that cost too much psychic, spiritual, and affective energy. Without a father, life is populated by enemies.
and
When we reach the age of maturity, we realize that our father was not perfect. He was merely a man. This can be the source of enormous scandal, but it is a crucial point for growth. Only in the measure in which we accept the scandal of imperfection do we understand the greatness of our father, do we enter into the greatness of his humanity. He truly gave himself for us, even in all his limitations. In this way, we can also begin to accept our own limits and to give ourselves to our children. Only when we understand this do we definitively become men. Before this moment, we had been bound to an idol. But in the moment in which we accept what was wrong in our father does our affection for him become truly definitive.
To read more, view the pdf full text here.
1 comment:
The more I reflect on this, the more I agree with it, based on my own experience and on the experience of other men I know. Thanks for sharing.
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