For the Father of my Children...

In honor of my husband, the father of my children, I wanted to take a blog to appreciate all the little things he does, that makes him such a support to me, and an amazing dad to our daughter.

He is consistently striving to lead us closer to Christ by developing his own faith formation so that he can share it with us. He is a strong man who will stand up to defend the faith and his family. He works so hard to support us and simultaneously attempt to share the gospel with the world. When he travels, he’ll take red-eye flights just to avoid traveling for an extra day. If he can make it home to spend time with us before an unexpected evening working, he’ll make the drive back home to see us. On top of that, he's Mr. Fix-it or build-it around the house.

Along with being a hard worker, he is such an amazing support to me by being such an active father. He wakes up with Mina on a regular basis to spend time with her and give me an extra half hour of sleep or a head start on chores before he leaves for work. He takes Mina on little outings like swimming at his parents’ house to give me some R&R and bond with her. He participates in her bedtime routine by reading her stories and singing Disney princess songs with her in Spanish (yes, he knows all the words, hehe). When Mina was young, he’d get up and change her diapers in the middle of the night and volunteered to handle the output while I handled input. He’s into reading parenting books to figure out how to help us raise, happy, healthy, holy children. He LOVES our daughter and showers her with affection and attention. I have no doubt that he will do the same for our son, though in a particular father-son bond.

Thank you to my husband, and to all strong Catholic fathers out there. You are a rare breed and we moms could not do it without you.

And a special thank you to all of our spiritual Fathers who unite us as brothers and sisters in Christ under Holy Mother Church and bring us the sacraments each day.

Happy Father’s Day!

Where's your Daddy?

The media coverage of the recent birth of the California octuplets has brought several thoughts to my mind. Over the past weeks, reporters have dished out many intriguing facts about the family--an unemployed single mother, already has 6 children, and underwent in vitro fertilization.

I am glad that as a result of this event, the moral implications of in vitro are being discussed-- specifically the availability of the treatment. Although it is beautiful that this mother decided against "fetal reduction" (and carried all 8 babies), there is more than one issue involved. The Catholic Church teaches us that in vitro fertilization is a gravely immoral act, due to the fact that is separates the marriage act and the conception of a human life. During in vitro, the man has to masturbate in order to give his sperm, and the woman is given hormones to stimulate her ovaries. From there, the embryo is conceived, life is originated in a petri dish, and later implanted into a woman's uterus. In some cases, embryos will even live in the petri dish for several days, in order for the doctors to "weed out" the weaker persons. Because the Church clearly teaches that life begins at conception, this becomes a very serious subject.

More significantly, however, I have noticed that despite the constant attacks towards the octuplet's mother, I have heard very little reaction to the fact that these 14 children have been brought into the world to be raised without a father. In a way, this woman's decision to bear children is the flip side of the pro-choice mentality: It's my body and I can do what I want with it. In her case, she felt that she deserved a "right" to motherhood. But the question still prevails... What about daddy?

Fatherhood IS a part of creation established in the order of nature, and it should never be separated from it. God Himself, in His greatness, even reveals himself as a Father to us. I do not think that we can even wrap our minds around the dignity that this brings to all earthly fathers! I have never heard of any research that does not support a child's need for both a mother AND a father. In his encyclical titled Familiaris Consortio, John Paul the Great tells us that "when they become parents, spouses receive from God the gift of a new responsibility. Their parental love is called to become to children the visible sign of the very love of God 'from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named' (Ephesians 3:14-15). Unfortunately, our culture already tends to greatly undervalue fatherhood. Most examples of dads in the media are flat-out idiots (just turn on the Simpsons, Family Guy, and almost any sitcom).

I could go on, but my true purpose for this post is to simply announce that the issue that disturbs me the MOST about the octuplet's situation (other than the fact that in vitro is morally wrong), is the fact that there is no father is present. Let's pray for this family, that the octuplets and their siblings come to find strong men in their lives to lead them. Let's pray for all the men who embrace their vocation to fatherhood that they continue to be examples of our Heavenly Father in heaven. Let's also pray for the sanctity of marriage and life.