Brothers and Sisters,

Today, I want to begin a series of homilies that focus on the family. We've all got one. We've all known some kind of family, whether that be good or whether that be bad. To begin, I want to address the role of a father. It's a word we use alot in the Church - father. We use it in the 'Our Father', we call our Pope the 'Holy Father' and we have our earthly father.

Firstly, let us look at the father we mean, when we say the 'Our Father'. We refer to the heavenly father - our father in heaven. We all had a father. And some of our fathers may not have been too good to us. We can't choose our fathers. But if we could, what would he be like? Loving? Caring? Forgiving? Understanding? Our father in heaven, is all of those things. He is merciful, he is compassionate and so much more - but he is loving. Unlike your earthly father, who may have been unkind or uncaring - your heavenly father never turns away. You may turn away from him - but he never turns away from you. Our relationship with our heavenly father can only get better and better - why? Because God knows our weaknesses. He knows when we've sinned - he sees you at your lowest. And yet his opinion of you stays the same - he loves you. Can you turn away from that?

Our Holy Father, is the name we give to our Pope. And that itself, is a word meaning Father. Why do we call him father? Because he is a loving and caring man. He is our highest earthly authority - and he knows God's love and grace. And so if you have problems loving your earthly father and in these image obsessed times, you need a living man to love as your father - love the Holy Father. Love our Pope. But remember, he shares a father with you. And that's the most wonderful thing - we are all related. We are all together. We are bound by God's love. Why do you think I addressed you today as 'Brothers and Sisters'? Because we share a heavenly father.

When we say the Our Father, we praise that father. We thank him for his love. We tell him how wonderful his grace and love is. And we ask that we know it each and every day. Let us Pray;

Most loving and merciful father, we thank you that we know the grace and love you give as a father. We thank you for being a forgiving father and we thank you for the unconditional love that you give us. We praise you and we ask to always share in the love you give. We pray for our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, that he may know your love and share it with us all. And we pray for our earthly fathers. We pray that if they are loving, we may love them and learn from their example of love. We pray that if they are not loving, that we may know your grace and understand them enough to show them the love they don't show us. We pray that if our fathers are departed, they may know you and rest with you, their father.

Amen.

The Service is ended. Go in the Love of the Lord.

Wonderful sermon Emiliano. Keep up the good work!!

Sincerely,

Wonderful sermon, indeed. Thank you! :)