Happy Father's day

Father’s Day: Mary, Queen of Peace, and the Call to Be Good Shepherds

Cristy Murray and Father Perry Kenaston host a Father’s Day episode of “Mary’s Messages: Leading Hearts to Jesus Today,” opening with a prayer to Mary, Queen of Peace for those in the military, victims of war, and unity among nations. Father reflects on the 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time Gospel from Matthew about the abundant harvest and need for laborers, connecting it to a shortage of priests and the shared mission of the Apostolic Church. He links readings about God’s care for Israel and Christ dying for sinners to the vocation of fathers—birth, adoptive, and priests—to bring God’s protective love to families and parishes, noting social harms of fatherless homes and positive movements encouraging engaged fatherhood. He leads a vocation prayer for the Archdiocese of Anchorage-Juneau, shares a personal story about his father, urges kindness and spiritual leadership, and closes with a Litany of Trust and podcast announcements.

00:00 Welcome to Mary’s Messages
00:37 Opening Prayer for Peace
01:29 Father’s Day and the Gospel
03:15 Homily on Fatherhood Today
08:36 Prayer for Vocations
09:32 A Father’s Day Joke
10:04 Dad Stories and Lessons
13:17 Closing Prayer of Trust
15:12 Wrap Up and Next Steps

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Transcript

0:00

Welcome to Mary's Messages: Leading Hearts to Jesus Today, the podcast where we listen to the voice of the Blessed Mother and allow her to guide us ever closer to her Son in our modern world. I'm Cristy Murray along with Father Perry Kenaston, and each week we explore stories of faith, conversations with Catholic voices, and practical spiritual tools to help you encounter Christ more deeply. In a world longing for peace and clarity, Mary continues to speak to her children with love, hope, and a mother's gentle wisdom. Thank you for joining us today as we open our hearts to Mary's message and let her lead us to the loving embrace of Jesus. Father, would you like to get us started with an opening prayer? Sure In the name of the Father, the Son- And the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. My dear friends, I think it would be appropriate today to start with, uh, because it's Father's Day and everything, uh, and what we're doing is, uh, it's a, it's a prayer for the peace, and it's put out by the priests of the Sacred Heart Monastery in, in Wisconsin. Mary, Queen of Peace, we turn to you, our mother. Into your hands we place our prayers. For our men and women serving in the military, protect them. For innocent victims of war and violence, spare them. For those who mourn and are injured, comfort them. For people of all nations, unite them in the love and peace of your Son, the Prince of Peace. Mary, Queen of Peace, pray for us. Amen. Father's Day. Father's Day. So Father's Day episode. Yes. You know- We're doing this because a couple weeks ago, matter of fact, the 11th, uh, 11th Sunday of ordinary t- of the ordinary time, it was... happened to just be right on the same thing as Father's Day. Now, most of you had fathers. We all had fathers one way or another, and it was just a matter of what scripture is, and I think it's important for us to remember who they actually are. So it's from the Gospel of the 11th Sunday of ordinary time. It's from Matthew. At the sight of the crowd, Jesus' heart was moved with pity for them, because they were, uh, troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to the disciples, 'The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few. So ask the master of the harvest to serve out, to send out for his harvest.'" Now, it goes on about naming the 12 apostles and everything else like that, but I think it's important just to focus on this, 'cause I have a, I have a special prayer for, um, at the end of the mass, at, a- and it's also at the end of the, our sharing here today, and it's one that we use every na- every Sunday for the archdiocese. And the key to this is that, I... th- there's a... Throughout the United States and some places, there's a shortage of priests, and that means that, you know, none of us are getting any younger, and we have to have some replacements coming in. So again, this is for the... designed for this, the homily that I... This homily is designed exactly for what it is. The readings for that particular Sunday presents the people of Israel encamped before Mount Sinai. God tells Moses, "Remind the people of my care for them, how I defeated the Egyptians and bore up the people of Israel on eagle's wings and brought him to myself." Paul reminds the Romans of God's special care for His people when he tells them, a- and us, that Jesus died for us so that we, enemies of... So that we enemies of God's kingdom through sin might be reconciled with God. The just man died not just for good people, but even with especially the sinner. The Gospel reading to- presents the Lord filled with grief when He saw Jesus- And the crowds needed for him and how much people there were to continue his work. Jesus belong- then belongs to the Apostolic Church. He calls the 12 apostles to carry his present to the world, but that's us too, my friends. This Sunday is Father's Day, which was a couple weeks ago. All fathers, birth fathers, adopted fathers, and priests are reminded of their mission to bring the caring, protective love of the Lord to their families And in my particular case, it's the entire parish. There have been both negative and positive concepts regarding fathers in our papers today. On the negative side, there is a direct relationship between the number of homes without fathers and the number of children who are in trouble with the law. The legalized thing of abortion has become the greatest anti-woman action in this century. Many future fathers tell the girls they have impregnated that they have no responsibility beyond their providing the fee for an abortion. These courageous women with the moral integrity that will allow themselves to be compromised are treated as though it was their choice to have a fatherless child. On the positive side, many men are taking fatherhood very seriously. Fathers are taking an active role in the families. Movements like the Diocesan Men Conference, that Men as, Men as You, and the Promise Keepers have encouraged thousands of fathers to take an active role in the spiritual and moral leadership of their lives. Back in 1933... 1993, the missions of the United States issued a pa- pastoral, and this comes right straight from the bishops though, Following the Way of Love, in which fathers were commended, encouraged. The bishops wrote, "More and more fathers have been discovering how their involvement in parenting enriches both their children and themselves. This is a, a hopeful development. We urge men to interpret their traditional role of providing for a family in more than economic sense. Physical care of children, discipline, training in religious values and particip- practices, help with schoolwork and other activities can and must be provided by fathers as well as mothers. The role of the mother can be expressed with the concept of being the life-giving nurturer. The nurturing which her body gives the child from conception through nursing becomes a basic relationship with the child. A good mother does not just teach her child like a school teacher, but she feeds her child the basic message of life. The role of the father can be expressed- With the concept of being life-giving provider. Work is important, but providing for the family means a lot than a paycheck. The good father provides a Christian life for the child to grasp integrity to his or her heart. A good father makes real the caring, protective love of lo- God. On eagle's wings, and I don't know if you've see, or heard that song or song that, or sing it, but I... If you happen to be listening to this, I'd Google it, on eagle's wings, 'cause it's a great song. Mm-hmm. The lo- the Lord delivered His people from the evils of Egypt. When he keeps his home free from the moral influences of modern society, the good father protects his child from the evils of the world. But with eagle's wings, he carries for his children with the sacrifice of the day, knowing that his life is richer when it give, it is given for others, particularly for his own family. The good father is sent to proclaim the gospel of Christ, and he begins with his children. We pray today and always for our fathers. May they continue to be good fathers. May they provide for our children the care of the Father of all of us. And now, my friends, I, I don't know, um, if you have any influence over your pastor, but here's a prayer that we're, we use in the Archdiocese of Ar- Juneau in Anchorage. It's a prayer for vocations, for the priesthood. Okay. Oh, God, who wish everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of Your truth, send, we pray You, laborers into Your harvest. Help us to call from our parish faith-filled men to serve at Your altar. Grant them grace to speak Your word with boldness so that Your word may spread and to be glorified in our parish, in our archdiocese, and in our world, and all the people come to know You, the only God, and Him whom You have sent, Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen. Amen. I can't go into anything else, my friends, because it's Father's Day. Now, ladies, listen to this carefully. This is, uh, this is a joke. Joke. I gotta preface this. It's a joke. Now, on Father's Day, just like on Mother's Day- It's his day and it was your day on Mother's Day. So you gotta be extra nice to the guy, just like he was ni- extra nice to you on Mother's Day. Hopefully. I don't know. I'm gonna have to clean this up, but that's all right. What's basically... Well, we're, and we all, we all take care. I remember, I remember I, I, I went, I saw this my ring, uh, that daddy gave me. It was the last thing he did before he died, and it's a ring of, it's a three charity ring: faith, hope, and love. And this, my, my fingers have gotten larger just like everything else, but, that's okay. But we're, uh, you know, I walked into the jeweler there in the mall, and they says, "Well, we can't work on it because it's not ours, but we, uh, we're looking at maybe 65, $75 to size it up." And I said, "Yeah, it's okay." But, you know, someday, God willing, I'll do it, but I, I just, I wanna si- enlarge it 'cause I don't wanna get it stuck there, that could be serious. But it, he, you know, daddy, daddy tried his best, I remember one day, oh yeah, I remember one day he took me down to the DMV to get my license in his yellow Pinto station wagon, and that was it. I, I did that, got back, he got out of the car and he says go have fun with Larry," and that's my sidekick that I've known 'cause we were going to school together at St. Joe's. Went there, got there, first day, I was more, I was no more than two hours old as a driver, and we went into Wenatchee Heights, and I hit a patch of ice. Oh. Now, that's not fair, guys. The Lord doing that to me right away. I'm only two hours old. I went boom, boom like that into the snow bank. So long story, long story short, everything turned out all right. By the grace of God, I pulled into the driveway. Daddy was sitting there having lunch- And young people, I want you to listen to this carefully. Daddy looked at me and he says, "Are you okay? How's the car?" I didn't say anything. And this guy, my father, knew ahead of time that this is what happened. And I just, "Oh, okay." He said, "Well, why are you standing here? If everything's okay, go shoot your rabbits or whatever." Or tin cans, 'cause that's where... But anyway, each of us had a .22, and that's what we did. But the main thing is, is that, fathers are there for us to help us. And for those who are fathers in the worldly sense, that's who you're caring for, huh? Who are you caring for? Is that not... And when you hold him in your hands the first time, or her the first time, who are you holding? I would submit that you're holding Jesus That, that would, uh, change a lot of attitudes, especially in this day and culture. But anyway, that's it. Just remember to be nice to your we nice to each other. And, and fathers, let me tell you, it goes both ways here. So be nice to your kids, 'cause remember who you're spanking. Remember that, Jesus gave you that new life so you could shepherd it accordingly. Yep. So God bless. Have a nice day. All right. Be a good shepherd. Okay. That is our episode for today, or extra episode for this week, Father's Day. Do you want to say a closing prayer before I say the- Sure Okay. Here we go. Let me have trust. From the belief I have earned your love, deliver me, Jesus. From the fear of I'm an unlovable, deliver me, Jesus. From false security that I have what it takes, deliver me, Jesus. From the fear that trusting you, you'll leave me more institute, deliver me, Jesus. From all suspicions of your words and promises, deliver me, Jesus. From the rebellion against childhood dependency on you, deliver me, Jesus. From the refusal and reluctance in accepting your will, deliver me, Jesus. From anxiety and the future, deliver me, Jesus. From the resentment or excess preoccupation with the past, deliver me, Jesus. Now, this is... That my suffering united with yours will bear fruit in life and next, Jesus, I trust in you. That you will not leave me orphan, that you present in your church, Jesus, I trust in you. That your plan is better than anything else, Jesus, I trust you. That you always hear me, and in your goodness always respond to me, Jesus, I trust in you. That you give me the grace to accept fullness and forgiveness and to forgive others, Jesus, I trust in you. That you give me all your strength I need what is asked, Jesus, I trust you. That my life is gift, Jesus, I trust in you. That you will teach me to trust you, Jesus, I trust in you. That you are my Lord and my God, Jesus, I trust in you. That I'm your beloved, Jesus, I trust in you. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. Hmm, what is that? That's my dryer. Oh. Thank you for joining us today on Mary's Message, Leading Hearts to Jesus Today. If this conversation brought you closer to Jesus, I invite you to subscribe, leave us a five-star review, and share this episode with someone who needs a little hope. And every time you do, you help Mary's Message reach more hearts. For links, resources, and ways to stay connected, be sure to check the show notes below. And if you'd like to go deeper, we now have a newsletter just for you. Um, head to our subscription landing page in the show notes to join our community, receive notifications, reflections, and resources, and Marian inspiration delivered straight to your inbox. And also invite you to join our Mary's Mantle of Grace Consecration. We start July 1st. The link will also be in the show notes. Um, so until next time, may Mary's message echo in your heart and lead you ever closer to the loving embrace of Christ. And end that