Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, good morning! A reading from the Holy Scripture, a short one, from the Gospel according to St. Matthew.

"After the wise men had left the Holy Family, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph and said, ‘Herod will be looking for the child in order to kill Him. So get up, take the child and His mother, and escape to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you to leave.' Joseph got up, took the child and His mother, and left during the night for Egypt, where he stayed until Herod died."

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Well, dear friends, the first thing I want to do is wish each and every one of you a Happy Father's Day, whether you are a father, or wish you were, or are like one, or whether you are remembering your dad. Happy Father's Day to each and every one of you.

Oh, dear friends, as I look out over this congregation, my heart is touched because I know that some of you are remembering very special dads who have gone to be with the Lord. I bless you. You see, as soon as we say "Happy Father's Day" things get complicated. For those of you who are celebrating with great joy and in a straightforward way, I bless you. May nothing impair your happiness. May all happiness be yours this day. But for those of you for whom Father's Day is a complex day, I say to you, "God is honoring you and blessing you, too. And may this be in some way a happy day for you as well."

Fathers, let me talk to you first. You are often feeling alone, perhaps a little unappreciated. But know that God knows the good things you do, and that your role is very important. I am so impressed with all that Jesus learned from Joseph and Mary. Think about it – He had to have learned a lot. And a lot of impressions of God and His feelings about God had to come from what He experienced from St. Joseph and from Mary.

I read this passage out of Matthew to you because Joseph was a protective figure in Jesus's life. Jesus was adopted! He was adopted by Joseph, and Joseph cared for Him with a father's heart. Jesus remembered it all His life long. There was no term for the creator that Jesus used more than "Father", "Parent". The Jesus-way of worshiping God is to remember that God is our parent. And that's the best news of all about Father's Day, that God is our parent.

I wonder what Jesus learned from Joseph. Do you remember the story about Jesus going for His bar mitzvah to Jerusalem? While He was there, Mary thought He was with Joseph, Joseph thought He was with Mary. They started home and realized that the boy wasn't with them. They went back to the temple and found Jesus there, and they said, "Son, what are you doing? Why did you do this to us?" And Jesus said, "Did you not know I must be about my Father's business?"

Jesus referred to the creator as Father. From the cross, He said, "Father, forgive them. They know not what they do." And "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." So the term is very dear to Jesus.

And you are very dear to your children. Oh fathers, please know that your children are watching you and imitating you and loving you all the time. May blessings be yours this Father's Day.

Now, all of us have families, and I'd like to point out three ways to celebrate this Father's Day. Whether your father is here, nearby, and you can send words of love directly, or whether you're apart and you need to send words at a distance as well as by prayer, or whether he's in heaven and you need to send words through prayer to him in heaven, here are three ways to rejoice this Father's Day:

First of all, focus on the good things. I tell you, dear friends, confessionally, my relationship with my dad was challenging at times. I'm not going to burden you with those challenges. I dealt with them in the appropriate way. But I choose to remember the good things about my dad, and I'm inviting you to do that, too.

My dad taught me how to ride a bike. My dad taught me about reverence for God. My dad taught me about dependability. My dad taught me what it was like to be in World War II. I only regret I didn't listen harder. To those of you who have experienced such things, oh children, listen to your dads and remember their stories! Record them.

My dad taught me what it was to be understanding. I had a little problem with the car, if you know what I mean. I thought my dad was going to be furious, because Dad loved the car. But he was very understanding, and he helped me out, and I remember it to this very day. Focus on the good things in your relationship with your dad or with the one that's like a dad to you.

The second thing, be thankful to God for patchwork dads. You know, none of us can really fill in all our "dad" needs with one person completely. And so there are other people in our lives who fill in the patches, like a patchwork blanket of our complete picture of Dad. I invite you to be thankful for them and wish them a happy Father's Day. I'm grateful for the Reverend Dr. Stanislaw Stahoviak, who was my pastor when I was growing up. He thought I was worth teaching, and when he needed an altar boy who could read Latin well, he gave me lessons in how to read the Psalms in Latin. I still remember sitting at the table with him. He had a big, white hand, and he'd point to the words in Latin in the Bible, and I'd read. If I made a mistake, he'd say, "Uh uhh" and I'd correct it. He took an interest in me, and he encouraged my father to have me take organ lessons. If it weren't for him, I probably wouldn't be a musician today. I'm profoundly grateful for that patchwork dad. I'm thankful for my brother-in-law Richie, who taught me I was worth spending time with and took me for rides in his truck and taught me things about cooking. And he taught me that it was okay for a strong, macho man to sing. I appreciate him. Who are your patchwork dads? Be grateful for them. Wish them a happy Father's Day.

And finally, remember the best news about Father's Day. Jesus said to His disciples, "When you pray, pray thus: Our Father…", not just Jesus's father, not just creator in heaven, but our Father, our parent. If your relationship with your dad is imperfect or broken in any way, or if he's no longer on earth to let you hear the things you need to hear, remember this: you always have a Father in heaven, the Father after whom all fathers are named. He will love you, protect you, provide for you, and comfort you all your life through. The best news is that you have a Father in heaven, the one that Jesus referred to as Abbah, Papa, Dad. He is yours, and He is yours forever.

Children say the most remarkable things, don't they? I know a little boy who occasionally will just say something out of the blue that is just so wonderful. This little boy once said to me, "Jesus' blood was red. Our blood is red. That means we're all related." Isn't that wonderful? It's true; we are, and we have one Father in heaven who cares for us all, provides for us all, and loves us all. Won't you contemplate that through the week? May it be a Father's Day blessing, because God loves you. I do, too. Have a wonderful week. Amen.