To Papa, with love
Come Sunday (June 16), and it would be Father’s Day. Though fathers have been around for as long mothers, it is Mother’s Day that came into existence first. The creation story of the Bible brings Adam first and Eve comes only as an afterthought, being created from Adam’s rib.
Mother’s Day began to be celebrated primarily to express gratitude to the mammas of the world for the sweet burden they delightfully carry to raise and care for the daily needs of their children. So it was almost taken for granted that papas took less care of the children than mammas until, one day, a lady in the US, who had lost her mother very early in life, thought of expressing her gratitude to her father, who brought up five children all by himself. This was in 1910.
While mothers seemingly do provide far more personal love and care to children, fathers don’t lag far behind, particularly in modern times. Unfortunately, often it is their role as the breadwinner that comes in the way of them being expressive with small gestures of their affection for their children. Being frequently outdoors, they have relatively less time or opportunity to share intimate moments with the family. But that does not mean that fathers love their children less than mothers. Each father wishes his child to do better than he did himself and he always feels proud seeing his children growing up well.
The Bible has advice both for children and parents, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honour your father and mother that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6: 1-4).
We also find Jesus addressing God as “Abba” (Father). One of the allegations made against Jesus was that of blasphemy because He dared to call God in as intimate a term as “Abba”, something forbidden in the Jewish tradition of his time. And yet, because Jesus wanted to acquaint us with the unconditional love of the Father, he continued helping human beings through his teachings, to relate to God as one’s own Father (Luke 15).
It is probably because India has so many festivals and holidays, not to mention other distractions like cricket and Bollywood, that the idea of Mother’s and Father’s Day has not caught the imagination of youngsters. But for what our papas are and what they do for us they do deserve a “Father’s Day” so that we can shower them with love, affection and gifts, and show them how important they are.
Father Dominic Emmanuel is the director of communication of the Delhi Catholic Church
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