A Father’s Love: A Lifeline Beyond Doctrine
This past Trinity Sunday we were invited into the mystery of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — one God in three persons – on Father’s Day! The Trinity is not a puzzle to be solved, but a relationship to be entered into.
Over the past several weeks, the Church has led us through celebrations focused on the different persons of the Trinity and today we reflect on God the Father. The bond of love between a father and child knows no limits. It protects, it sacrifices, it endures. This bond mirrors the love God the Father has for His Son and for us. Fatherhood and fatherliness can come in many forms but wherever love is offered freely and selflessly, the image of God the Father shines through.
As Christians we are called to be fatherly to many, especially people who are facing insurmountable challenges, difficulties and hardships every day. I saw this fatherliness in action by my own father when I was very young. My father served as a police officer in the Irish Police Force which in known officially by its name derived from the Irish language, An Garda Siochanna – this directly translates into English as “guardians of the peace.” On this particular night, my dad was working the night shift. Around three o’ clock in the morning he got a call to go to a serious accident that had occurred between a motorcycle and a truck. When my dad arrived at the scene, he immediately saw that the young man on the motorcycle had been killed; but upon closer examination my dad realized that he recognized the young victim. He was the son of neighbors of ours that live a few hundred yards from our home. My father was given the task of informing our neighbors that their only son, indeed their only child, was no more.
My father arrived at our neighbors’ home around 4:30 a.m. He sat outside in the patrol car preparing himself to be the bearer of the most horrible news any parent could ever receive. As he sat there, he realized that one gift he could give these parents was the opportunity to get one last undisturbed night’s sleep before they would be catapulted into a life of pain and sorrow. It was a slow night after that, so my dad just sat there praying for the young man, for his parents and for himself to gather strength for the task ahead. He never talked much about the incident afterwards, but I’m sure that as he sat there, he thought about his own family sleeping just up the street. I was no more than five years old at the time, but I’m sure he thought about how he would feel if someone had to give him this shocking news about his son that he was about to give these parents.
By 7:00 a.m. my father went to the house to inform the parents that their child was gone. For years afterwards, whenever any of us would meet our neighbors, they would always show incredible appreciation for my father’s willingness to allow them to get one last night’s sleep. On the surface a simple fatherly act, but in reality, an affirmation to the parents of this child that in their incredible moment of pain and suffering there was someone who cared for them, who had compassion for them and was willing to stand in support of them. A person with a willingness to mimic the love that God the Father has for each one of us.
So today, let the Trinity not be just a doctrine we recite, but a relationship we live. Let us open our hearts to the love of the Father, follow the example of the Son, and walk in the power of the Holy Spirit; and let us remember always: the Father’s love is not a theory. It is a lifeline. It is the arms of love that lift us out of darkness today and every day.
Deacon Brendan Brides , a native of Ireland, was educated by the Presentation Brothers in Cork City, Ireland. Deacon Brendan emigrated to the United States in 1986. Shortly thereafter, he met his wife, Gail. They married in the early nineties and have resided in Sandwich ever since. They have a son, Patrick, who grew up attending religious education and serving as an altar server for many years at Christ The King Parish. Patrick now serves in the United States Navy. Deacon Brendan worked for many years as a building contractor on Cape Cod where he oversaw the construction of many fine houses in his career. In 2013 he decided to accept a position as building commissioner for a local municipality. He continues in that position today.
After his ordination by Bishop Coleman to the permanent diaconate in 2013, Brendan was transferred to Saint Johns in Pocasset. He spent six and a half years there serving the people of Bourne. He and his wife Gail returned to Christ the King in 2021 and although they sincerely miss the great people of Saint Johns, they are very happy to be back at their home parish of Christ the King. Besides being active at Christ the King, Deacon Brendan is currently a mentor for gentleman that is going through the permanent deacon program and he is also actively involved in assessing the latest class of applicants to the permanent diaconate for the Diocese of Fall River.
