Pastoral Prayer for June 19, 2022

On this Father’s Day 2022, I invite all the men present today

to hear this blessing prayer for fathers by John O’Donohue

in the most inclusive way possible.

Hear it as a blessing not only on the fathers in each of our lives,

and on those who are fathers in the literal sense,

but also on grandfathers,

and on all those – including mothers and grandmothers! –

who share the strength and care of fatherly love

with all the children in their lives.

This is also a blessing and a prayer that needs to be grown into,

and we need to remember that the stages of our growing do not end

in this dimension, but continue into eternity.

FOR A FATHER

The longer we live,

The more of your presence

We find, laid down,

Within our lives.

The quiet constancy of your gentleness

Drew no attention to itself,

Yet filled our home

With a climate of kindness

Where each mind felt free

To seek its own direction.

As the fields of distance

Opened inside childhood,

Your presence was a sheltering tree

Where our fledgling hearts could rest.