Revised June 22,2022

St Joseph of Arimathea

There’s a scene in the 1929 film “Gone with the Wind”, where Butterfly McQueen utters a famous line: “But, Miss Scarlett, I know nuthin’ about birthin’ babies!!”

But, Butterfly had a better chance of having a baby than ANY man on earth since and including Eve’s Adam (not the chronic embarrassing prez hopeful super liar Eve’s Adam Schiff but Adam of Eden Gardens).

Adam and Eve were the only humans on earth that started out as adults; the rest of us came out of a mother’s womb, awaiting parental training, nutrition and hope.  Scientific law: parents are the FIRST and primary educators of the children of the world.  Well, the ones that survive the Damnocrats (the portion of the Dem party and too may Repubics who think little girls make good selling parts for campaign donations.  Ask Kamalala) kill mills.

God, unlike the modern poor imitators of the Trinity recreating the human genome, designed women to be able to keep the race going (the human one not Indy 500 or NASCAR); and men, believe it or not US Dept of Dysphoric Genders Creation, have the innate ability to begin life making love to his excellent wife.   Sperm meets egg, and voila! we have fertilization, conception, implantation etc.   Just don’t drive by your local Planned parenhoodlum’s kill mill too often…

Father’s Day comes but once a year.  But Fatherhood is eternal. IF you are a dad, enjoy DaDay, with its soggy eggs the preschoolers made for breakfast in bed and the green orange tie, too.

You are MORE than a tie MANnequin: you are a DAD with kids that need your love, your guidance, your help.  AND there is no rule book in my world that says this ends with 18 years old birthdays; please DON’T conform to the ignorance of this world.

Yes, teens need over time to be slowly released into independence, but ALWAYS remember: Dads, you are NOT your kids’ friends, but need to be friendly.  You are with them for life.  And they will need you as much as you need them.

Why?  Face diapers are medical tyrannies called masks, but diapers DEPENDs on your age, as well as your Huggies number.  In other words, your toddlers, newbies, rug rats, curtain climbers cannot survive without you, NOT just as prebirth squirmers.  They need shelter, food, changings and more. And you as you approach 80, 90, will need your offspring to be there for you.  Depends and Huggies/Pampers bracket the 525,600 minutes per year over time.

We need both fathers and mothers, because God is the Ultimate Planner, not the far far away farLeft or misery merchants, the AOC loons or their indoctrinated progeny.  The Trinity’s persons have co-existed for eternity past and will exist with YOU for ALL of eternity future.  God’s design is complete:

In Nature, the male is most often the more colorful sex/gender of the species (haven’t seen any transsexual peacocks?) and the female more drab or better camouflagued, to PROTECT the species: when a bird is carrying birdlets, she needs to stay alive to bring them to birth.  Camouflaged moms are less available to predators.

From National Geo: “Camouflage, also called cryptic coloration, is a defense or tactic that organisms use to disguise their appearance, usually to blend in with their surroundings. Organisms use camouflage to mask their location, identity, and movement. This allows prey to avoid predators, and for predators to sneak up on prey.”

EXCEPT in the one human race, which is NOT part of the animal kingdom.

God did NOT create humans the way He created the animal kingdom.  Woman is the most beautiful and most complex creature on earth; God created her that way.  Traditionally, since for nine months a mother carries a child, the man should be able to provide extra protection.  Unfortunately, our death culture is trying so hard to emasculate fatherhood, to prove that men are not needed, “give me your paycheck now go”.  Women don’t need men, they go to the Sperm Market.  Or Pete Buttitch and his whatever cradle twins that they adopted because neither Pete or Chase had uteruses to put them into play.

We need BOTH>>  God did NOT create a male universe.  NOR a female universe. 

The Trinity designed and created a FAMILY universe, where men and women become moms and dads and raise males and females to become mom and dads. AFTER homeschooling for a few years, continuing after age 3 or 5 through high school, OR hiring others (teachers’ unions who own pubic schools, private & parochial and HYBRID educational methodologies)

Your children NEED you EVEN when they say they don’t.  You are called to instruct: Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:4
“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”

It is a tightrope walk, applying adequate love and discipline especially in the surgically attached smart phones our kids are gifted these days; they are connected to great things, but a hell full of evil cesspool gunk as well.

But, we must reason with our offspring because they are watching out for hypocrisy and “do as I say not as I do” syndrome from their first steps.  Dads, our kids don’t need wimps, they need warriors willing to take the blows for THEIR safety.  Mice or men: your choice.

But, dads your role, despite the Gloria Steinems and FemiNazis Rush talked about, remains MORE important today.  Did you know that the key #1 reason crime is proliferating (other than the soon to be recalled George Gascon idiocy) is fatherlessness in America. We are called to “act like me, be strong”.  Young men, especially in Chicago where black young adults killing other black youth is pandemic today.  Lack of fathers as role models and giving direction is NOT fair to mothers AND deadly to the abandoned young men.  Yes, the governmental misery merchants prefer to own young men, evidenced by the rampant crime and destruction.  Dads need to hold their kids accountable; saying “wait until mom gets home” does not cut it.

1 Corinthians 16:13
Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like MEN, be strong.

Words that are essential: Men, act like men. Be strong.   Too many beta, gamma sigma males out there.  Need the alphas.

God set the template way back in the beginning with the patriarch of three world religions: Genesis 18:19
“For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.”

Dads, we are called to great things: never forget this! We need to be the “Abrahams” of our home.

Jason’s baptism the evening after he was adopted in Ohio

God has instilled you with the talent to be a father, a good husband and an enduring warrior of truth and justice.  There are plenty of beta and gamma males out there, take on your alpha self and be lovingly assertive.

The distinctives between the general qualities of the male and the female (in the human race) are designed in, but they are wavering under constant badgering by the Godless.  And Godless they are.

But we NEED instruction, fellowship, a real brotherhood my 51 year old experience at Servite High taught me, and prayer.

WE MUST Study well.

Our kids need to “catch” us reading the Scriptures and preparing to be a better man while becoming a better father.  And catch us often.  Wise books are critical to growth whether Kindled kindling wisdom or on pages and paper.

In my 39 years of homeschooling 11 great kids, I’ve learned many a lesson from my blessings.  Thinking we know it all is best proven wrong via your kids at times.

I feed my family working real estate, currently a working broker.  But, over three decades working with other parents’ kids at three parishes, in youth & young adults ministries, as well as DRE, I saw a wide array of kids.  Most often it was the moms who participated, but plenty of dads were involved too.

However you could pick out the kids whose parents were involved in their spiritual lives, as well as physical.  Yet, EVERY child deserves a shot at a happy eternity.

Dads are pulled in so many ways we feel like taffy; but the world needs us as dads AND husbands.  Moms need “Moms nights out”.

But men, dads, husbands, fathers: you need time away, weekends for recharging with non-fossil fueled power at away places.

I’ve planned and/or been on 100+ retreats over the decades of ministry, but not enough for me as a dad.

I missed out on this one, with misgivings, called Men on the Mountain.  Throughout America, Men/Man on the Mountain gatherings are common; but this one is Catholic and very special:

Here’s one way to improve…Mr. McElrath, the consummate encourager; Servite’s new president, Chris Weir promoted it.  Even Actor Kevin Sorbo took time from Israel to promote “Men on the Mountain” at the Santiago Retreat Center for last June 17-18th, Father’s Day weekend. 

If you didn’t attend this year, mark your calendars for next year.  But, don’t wait a year to up your game.

If you attended you know how important getting frequent man with man and man2man refreshment, “ReCentering” is and focusing on Jesus, the Center of the World, Center of the Universe, Center of our Faith and the center of His Story: History. ReCreation means two things and both are important.

Think just how generous Father God is, in sacrificing His eternal Son:

John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

The last is seen at many a football end zone, but the words rarely get repeated.  It is the universal GREATEST verse of the Bible.

Also, Adoration is a gift: Spending time with the God Man of the Eucharist does that… Jesus is coming to a theatre of Love, a parish, cathedral or abbey church DAILY. Jesus in the Eucharist is the Source and Summit of our faith.

The first sign of faith begins shortly after birth, with the Sign of the Cross.  And God fills our world with signs, symbols and icons that point us to salvation history.  The Shroud to Jesus’ sacrifice and Resurrection image.  The Giza Pyramid, pointing us to Whom is at the center of the world, and His birthplace and other Catholic truths.  Of course, Miracle of Lanciano, there is hope for disbelievers in the Eucharist.  The OLG tilma, Mary’s constant love and motherly attention to details we need.

We are surrounded with signs, miracles and symbols of faith and eternity.  Take time to smell the roses and see the images!

As the death culture continues its relentless onslaught of law and order, good character qualities, common sense and God’s way, we must become much stronger men of chivalry.  Chivalry is NOT dead, just dormant.  We dads can help its makeover.

For example, my Knight’s Templar replica sword, which I picked up in Toledo, Spain on a World Youth Day trip in 2000, symbolically demonstrates there is a BETTER way for men, for husbands, for fathers today.   The St Michael’s prayer daily dose, is important, because evil is amongst us.  But we dads and men are called to a higher goal: like Jesus, sacrificing much even death for those entrusted to our care, including our brides.

The real Ephesians 6 man in tune with God’s plan for our lives; if we are in tune, our family’s have a better chance of making heaven some day.  And friend, this is the ULTIMATE goal and responsibility of every dad:

!!To do all we can to get them to a joyful eternity!!

It’s not to die rich and have reprobate children.  In the old testament, the covenant that Jesus completed with His coming, God spoke volumes on this:

Joshua 1:9
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Our kids need strong, courageous, fearless dads.  Our wives, working inside or outside the home, need the same in a husband.

But, men, know that we MUST be equipped, not to be passive slugs on the world’s stage but active leaders and lovers of life.  Yes, love our wives AND our kids, but the time is NOW for men to become their best.  The tyranny of the last Covid years, usurped by Mao Tse-Xi’s Plague (pronounce Mao Say Cheese plague) has disconnected so many from life. We MUST repair the medical tyranny and evil, and re Connect as social human beings.  America is STILL the most blessed land, but being overrun with faraway left cockroaches who hate anything good, of God, and American.  Know your enemy, not your fellow human but the “rulers of this present darkness”.

From Paul’s letter to the Ephesus folks:

14 So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate

Eight of nine of the Abbey’s 2021 postulants; dads, God may call your sons and daughters to the religious life…stay TUNED to His silent call

Looking out for family.  Some of you dads reading this have had firearms training, own guns, are Veterans of many a foreign war.  But the domestic battle for your children’s hearts, minds and souls continues daily.  Test EVERY spirit; but if you neglect YOUR spiritual training, you are no better than a reed in the wind with 60milers underway.

So many tools…so little time.   There is RELEVANT Radio, which has a lineup that keeps us anchored on Catholic.  Down load the app!   Same with other apps like LAUDATE, where you can read the daily readings of the Mass, recite the Angelus at noon, have so many resources.   BOOKS galore to enrich our walk.

And of course, dads, your reach is intergenerational.  We know that Solomon was the wisest (and the richest) king over time; his proverbs have so many pearls (ok Home Depot gift cards) worth reading.

Maybe you are NOT fatherhooding yet, some have five.  I’m blessed with 11 kids and 21 grandkids to date.  I just picked up four grandkids from Ohio for a Friday night event and preFather’s Day Father’s Day celebration on Sat June 17th (Two of the main reasons / excuses I missed this year’s Man on the Mountain).  I will be there next year, if God gives me another year on His earth.  This year wasn’t to be, for reasons unmentioned, but next year, no reason to miss a necessary event:

Miracles and gifts come at surprising times.  Saturday before Father’s Day, about 7pm, I opened my last card for the day and in it was an ultrasound picture.  No, not for bone density or ankle sprain: one of my beloved Rose Angel, already a mother, did what is common today, a different kind of gender reveal. The latest grandkiddo revelation.

Well, he’s not due until jan 2023, but she will be loved.  One of six daughters Donna blessed the Beckman Ranch with and Mary three years ago became the best stepmom ever, for, IS a mother and has been a mother.

But, dad, the truth is: you need your son or daughter to find the best, the right and the God directed spouse so that you can enjoy Solomon’s next advice:

Proverbs 17:6
Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their fathers.

From all eternity, God has known the best for you, as a future dad or those who have had a father.  Pray for wisdom before riches, like Solomon did.  Some last Father related Scriptures good any time of year:

Proverbs 20:7
The righteous who walks in his integrity— blessed are his children after him!

Proverbs 23:22
Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.

Proverbs 23:24
The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him.

Proverbs 3:32
For the devious person is an abomination to the Lord, but the upright are in his confidence.

Be the man of integrity that God has designed you to be…

Psalm 68:5
Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.

God calls us dads to fill in for OTHER families as well; especially in this chronic, misery merchant toxic Godlessness, fatherlessness causes so many ills…

Being prepared, is being aware, seeking the good and wary of the evil.  Always remember, as we work our 1, 2 or 3 jobs to give our kids the best, not to neglect our duty to ourselves to “bulk up”.

You are men, fathers, not mice.  Your wives need you.  Your kids as well. Be the best St. Joseph you can be.

Dads, enjoy your tie, sloppy eggs and day if it’s father’s day…your month if it is June.  Your year, if one of the other 11.  And you have the potential to be a great dad, IF your name begins with one of the 26 letters of the alphabet. Don’t forget prayer.

Your job1 is 24/365 days a year but the blessings are infinite.  Enjoy your crowns, dad, for time flees quickly.  ALL too quickly

Len