In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen.

My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here,

that you see me, that you hear me.

I adore you with profound reverence.

I ask your pardon for my sins and the grace to make this time of prayer

fruitful. My immaculate mother, St. Joseph, my father and Lord, my guardian angel, intercede

for me.

Well, the bottom line of this time of prayer together is that you, dads, are the best.

We want to consider fatherhood in the presence of our Lord God, of our Father God, in order

to grow in our appreciation of this vital role, of the vital importance for your own family,

for all of society,

and to take into account that this is taking place our time of prayer within the year of the family.

These considerations are meant to jumpstart a conversation.

Conversation with your spouse, with your children.

In those cases in which your own children are grown up,

you might think, well, those years are behind me, well, maybe these ideas can spark a conversation

between you and some young dads in your life, maybe even with your own children who are now

young dads. Your role as father is your most important project.

And that is because you are setting in motion individual lives.

Lives that will pass along the impact of your fatherhood down through the ages.

Just recently in the Mass we read a very sobering thought from the Book of Wisdom.

Now will I praise those godly men our, each in his own time.

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