Discovering Fatherhood

Tag: saints in the world

  • Not the Usual

    HALLOWEEN

    I have never been a big Halloween person. I don’t think its evil, or bad nor do I think that people who celebrate it are crazy. It just has never really spoken to me.

    My wife is really excited about this being our daughters first trick-or-treating Halloween. Claire is old enough to enjoy the dressing up and going out. We were given a ladybug costume a while back and I figured that’s what my wife was going to have Claire wear. To my surprise Claire’s costumer was not the usual cute-toddler-costume one thinks of. Claire is going to be St. Clare of Assisi for Halloween.

    “Who?”

    That was my mothers’ response. When I told her that it was a nun she thought it was weird and that I should have picked something “cuter”. I understand that sentiment. It is definitely not the usual Halloween character. However I am glad my wife decided to chose a saint for Claire’s Halloween costume. There will be plenty of toddlers dress as goblins, ghouls, and other frightening characters. I am sure that there will be plenty of cute ladybug, and butterfly costumes to go around as well. I believe there will be very few children if any dressed as Saints this Halloween.

    There is something very depressing about that last sentence.

    Saint’s are heroes. Men and women, who struggled, sinned, changed and lived courageous lives of virtue under devastating, sometimes life-ending circumstances. If you have never read about St. Augustine, St. Claire of Assisi, St. John Paul II, and St. Maria Goretti—you are missing out on some of the greatest stories ever told.

    When my daughter shows up at someone’s doorstep on October 31st, she will be dressed in an unusual costume. This costume will probably intrigue those who open their doors. It will be an opportunity to share a little bit about a great Saint. My first real blog post on this journey of discovering fatherhood consisted of sharing about my desire for my daughter to become a saint. I guess it is only fitting that my wife dresses her up like one for Halloween.

    Claire is a normal kid and so were all those we call saints. It is the not so usual way that they lived their lives that lead these ordinary people to become extraordinary. So my daughter will show up at someone’s doorstep sharing about our spiritual family’s ancestors. Maybe you find this weird, or pushy, and I’m okay with that. It is this father’s humble opinion that we don’t need more goblins, ghouls, butterflies or ladybugs in the world, but we do need more saints. Ordinary men and women who chose to live in extraordinary ways.

    Saints change the world, and I believe that we need to discover more about these men and women so that our children as well as ourselves, can be inspired to follow in their not-so-usual ways and be transformed.

     

  • The Light

    Claire lights
    My daughter has this thing for lights.

    When Claire was born the doctors said she was really observant, which apparently is a sign of intelligence (she gets if from my wife). I remember Claire looking at the many lights in the labor room and I thought how interesting it was that so young she was able to see them. Now, almost 5 months old, Claire continues to look towards the light. I will literally have her in my arms and move her from one side of the room to the other just to see her little neck turn as she follows the light.

    Claire loves the light.

    There are moments when Claire will have her eyes focused on the light and a distraction causes her to turn away. Usually this distraction comes in the form of a noise brought on by my incredibly hyper mutt of a dog named Rocky. When Claire realizes it’s just the dog, she tries to fix her eyes back on the light. Claire will often search and not find it. She will move her little head back and forth in desperation searching. I usually have to turn her so that I can point her in the right direction. When she sees it she is glued to it.

    Claire loves The Light.

    As a father I recognize that there will always be distractions in Claire’s life. My daughter will have her attention taken away from The Light by various noises, people and things. It is my job to always point Claire back to The Light. It is also my responsibility to make sure that I, as well as my wife are not allowing distractions and noise to pull us away from The Light or else we will not be able to guide Claire towards it.

    I want Claire to be a saint.

    That’s right, that incredibly “antiquated” thing that many deem impossible. I’m convinced that the reason we don’t have more saints in the world is because they have taken their eyes off of The Light. The distraction and noises–the other “shiny” things–caught their attention and they went from the True Light of the world to something flourescent, LED, fake.  I see this a lot unfortunately and those fake lights can be pretty and enticing. They come in all shapes and colors and they can be custom-made to fit your own desire.

    As I write these words while I hold my daughter my one desire and prayer is, ‘God please help me keep her eyes is fixed on You.’ Sure I want her to be successful, intelligent, creative and all those things that make life good, BUT…never at the expense of her losing her focus on God.

    So daddy will continue to point her back to the light. Wave to her when her eyes catch the thousands of other shiny things, because even though they may be nice to look at in that moment, Claire loves The Light.