Render Others Happy

Ever since I became a father, the Ash Wednesday reading from the book of Joel has pricked my heart more than most other Mass readings.

It could be because I am reminded in the same Mass that my children are dust. Even my look-alike four-year-old Beau, with his ash cross hidden beneath his too-long dirty blonde bangs (that boy always seems to be overdue for a haircut), bears the mark of his mortality.

The change of routine always makes my young children extra silly during Mass. One day, there will be contrition and mourning, but for now, it’s all giggles.

And yet, where I am often stern and sometimes quick to wrath, there is something about their little smudgy foreheads that softens my response.

“For gracious and merciful is He,

slow to anger, rich in kindness,

and relenting in punishment.”

In those moments, I remember to be more like God because over the years, my children will become more like me.

As fathers, the way we respond to the actions of others has the power (to borrow a phrase from Dickens) to render them happy or unhappy.

We are the stewards of the environment and also of the atmosphere of our lives.

Lent reminds us both of what we need to give up, but it also reminds us of the storehouse of grace and mercy that is ours to enjoy and share.

In a sense, fathers can choose to breathe warmth and life into a room, or they can leave it cold and dry as dust.

We know what God does.

This Lent, practice the rich kindness that lifts others up.

After all, we have a resurrection to prepare for.