Happy Father's Day

Canadians celebrate fatherhood today. As a nation we give thanks for and honor fathers and the role they play in our lives. Let’s take a quick look at some statistics about fatherhood and Fathers’ Day in Canada.

According to the last Census (2011) there were approximately 8.6 million fathers in Canada.
About 3.8 million of these fathers had children under the age of 18 living with them.
The average age of a first-time father at the time of the survey was 28.3 years.
One in ten (10%) of Canadian families had a stay-at-home dad in 2015, as compared to only 1 in 70 in 1976.
49% of Canadian fathers provided help and care for their children in 2015, up from only 33% in 1986.
Fathers are taking more active roles in the raising of their children. In a 2015 survey 30% of recent fathers intended to claim parental leave. In Quebec, the province with Canada’s most generous parental leave policies, more than 85% of men intended to take time off to be with their babies.
76% of fathers participated in household work in 2015, up from 51% in 1986.

A recent survey by research firm Finder Canada, suggested that 45% of Canadian adults, or 13.5 million people, plan to spend money on their dads on Father’s Day. The average amount that each Canadian intends to spend is $114. That adds up to more than $1.5 billion that Canadians will be spending on their dads.

Father's Day as we know it (celebrated on the third Sunday in June) was founded in Spokane, Washington at the YMCA in 1910 by Sonora Smart Dodd. The first formal celebration of the holiday took place at the Spokane YMCA on June 19, 1910. Dodd’s father, William Jackson Smart, was a veteran of the American Civil War. He was subsequently widowed. He raised his six children as a single parent. Sonora believed that fathers should be honored for the crucial role they play in the lives of their children.

Did you know that the church began celebrating fatherhood well before June 19, 1910? For centuries the church celebrated fathers on June 19^th, on the day known as St. Joseph’s Day. On that day, the church gave thanks to God for St. Joseph, Jesus Christ’s earthly father. St. Joseph was not a fiery prophet, nor was he a brave warrior who was always victorious in battle. He did not perform miracles; he was not known for his wisdom and teaching skills. However, Joseph was a special man.

Joseph was a descendant of the great King David. God chose him, from among all the men alive at his time, to be the guardian and adopted father of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. What we remember most about Joseph, and praise and thank God for, is his faith. God spoke to Joseph and he responded with faith and trust in God’s words.

When Joseph found Mary, his betrothed, was with child (and he was not the father) he was bitterly disappointed and vowed to divorce her secretly. However, when an Angel of Lord, declared that the child in Mary was conceived by the Holy Spirit and would be the Savior of Israel, Joseph believed and took her as his wife. In so doing he adopted Jesus as his son.

He believed and trusted an Angel of the Lord when he was told to take Mary and Jesus and flee to Egypt in order to escape the evils of King Herod. He trusted and obeyed when the Angel told him to bring Mary and Jesus back to the Holy Land and to move back to Nazareth. Joseph loved and provided for Jesus.

Joseph followed all of God’s ordinances with respect to Mary and Jesus. He took Mary and Jesus to the Temple after Jesus’ birth. Mary filled a requirement of the Law and Jesus was dedicated to the Lord. When Jesus was a young boy, Joseph brought him to the Temple as required by the Law. Joseph was a good father.

Joseph’s adoption of Jesus pointed to what God was going to accomplish through Jesus. The Gospel of St. Matthew testifies: As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:16-17). Jesus’ innocent suffering and death on the cross paid for our sins, and his glorious resurrection from the dead paved the way to eternal life for all who believe. By his death and resurrection, Jesus sanctified hat waters of baptism. He commands his church to baptize in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul reminds us that when we are baptized we are joined to Jesus. We are joined to his death and his resurrection (Romans 6:3-5). We put on Christ (Galatians 3:27). We receive the Holy Spirit. God adopts us and makes us one of his children (Galatians 4:4-7).

On this Father’s Day we praise and thank God the Father for loving us and adopting us as His children. We praise God for His love for fathers. God gave Jesus a gift through the ministrations of his earthly father Joseph. God gave us a gift in our fathers. Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers!

4th Sunday After Pentecost

Happy Father's Day