Faith

It may seem strange to those outside the church, but if we stop to think about it, what a pope gives to us in the spiritual realm isn't much different from what the father of a family gives to his children in the natural course of family life.

Jaymie Stuart
Wolfe

Not everyone has a father growing up; I didn't. And there are a host of other reasons many of us may not feel particularly close to our dads. But none of us ever stops needing one. I think the depth of that reality is why we call a 27-year-old, chrism-still-wet-on-his-head ordinand "father," and why there's something unsettling when the pope -- our "Holy Father" -- is ill.
It may seem strange to those outside the church, but if we stop to think about it, what a pope gives to us in the spiritual realm isn't much different from what the father of a family gives to his children in the natural course of family life.
-- Fathers tell us where we came from and provide us with a sense of rootedness. As the guardian of the faith, the pope preserves both what the church believes and how the church has expressed those beliefs. He reminds us not only that we have a history, but that history matters.
-- Fathers love us. They reassure us that we are not here by accident but are created in love and for love. The pope's most fundamental task is to love God's children. That means comforting them when they are hurt, encouraging them when they are afraid, and challenging them when they get too comfortable with things the way they are. It also means showing them mercy and running out to meet them even before they have fully repented.

-- Fathers foster unity. The papacy exists as a sign of unity but also as a guarantor of it. As Shepherd of the Universal Church, the pope gathers Christ's flock and guides it -- not only toward God but toward each other. To accomplish this, he focuses more of his attention on those who are weak and vulnerable, just as any good father does. He doesn't love them more, but he does love them first.
-- Fathers take responsibility for the needs of their children and do whatever is necessary to meet those needs. A father's primary task is to get his children to heaven. The pope is called to do that, too, for more than a billion souls around the world. Our popes shoulder an immense burden, and the weight of that responsibility becomes more visible with each passing year of a pontificate.
-- Fathers have the authority to discipline their children. As the Vicar of Christ, the pope holds supreme authority over the church on earth. He governs all the sheep and is to discipline them when they stray. But he, too, is held accountable by Christ for how he uses the authority he has been given and whether he has been too lax or too rigid.
-- Fathers teach us the life skills we will need to care for ourselves and, eventually, for others. Modelling prayer, sacrifice, charity, and evangelization, the papacy is a magisterial office. That is, the pope is a teacher, and we are his students. The Holy Father teaches us by both word and example the practical skills of living the Christian life to its fullest. We look to him to show us what following Jesus looks like today.
-- Fathers exercise servant leadership and model (hopefully!) fidelity, goodness, and joy. The pope is the Servant of the Servants of God and not the CEO of a corporation. His mission is to empower the rest of us to live our spiritual lives fruitfully and with joy.
-- Fathers are irreplaceable. While they all have faults, some regrettably serious ones, no one can take a father's place in our lives. Fatherlessness lies at the root of countless problems, both personal and societal. In our desire to raise the status of everyone, many of us have fallen to the temptation to minimize, even deny, the importance of fathers. The pope, whoever he may be, reminds us that God is a father, too, and that any fathering we experience in our lives is a shadow of the perfect fatherhood God offers to all his children.
But fathers also grow old and frail. The strength their children often depend on weakens. And when it does, we are called to help them, to express gratitude for their gifts to us, to forgive them for their failures, and above all, to pray for them as their earthly pilgrimage draws to a close. May God be gracious to our Holy Father, Pope Francis.

- Jaymie Stuart Wolfe is a Catholic convert, wife, and mother of eight. Inspired by the spirituality of St. Francis de Sales, she is an author, speaker, and musician, and provides freelance editorial services to numerous publishers and authors as the principal of One More Basket. Find Jaymie on Facebook or follow her on Twitter @YouFeedThem.

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