Many times, children (even adult children) demand to have perfect parents.  We lose our patience with them, and sometimes we even blame them for the things that go wrong in our lives.  We forget that they gave us life and have made many sacrifices for our well-being and happiness.  

Through this photo gallery, we want to recognize the love of our fathers (whom we sometimes forget).  We want to thank them for their presence, care, and generosity.  We want to ask their forgiveness for criticizing them. We also want to take this opportunity to remember the lovely moments we’ve shared and find joy in the gift God has given us through our fathers.

Let’s not forget that we’re their children and someday we too will be parents (some of us already are).

Dear Dad:

Today, I’ve thought of the many moments we’ve shared together; it brought great joy to my heart.  Despite your weaknesses, which we all have, you’ve been a great father and much of what I am, I owe to your example and love.  These memories surprise me.  In them, I see how much you’ve given me and how little I’ve given back.  I know I’m not the type of person to recognize my mistakes and ask for forgiveness.  You may not have said it, but you always forgave me even when I never apologized.  Your love for me is and always has been unconditional.

Because of all this I feel the need to apologize for many things:

“I made you feel a profound and at the same time discrete affection, which maybe you did not fully recognize when you were young and unsure. I gave you a testimony of rigour and steadfastness that perhaps you didn’t understand, when you would have liked only complicity and protection. I had first to test myself in the wisdom of my heart, be vigilant of my excesses of sentiment and resentment, in order to carry the weight of the inevitable misunderstandings, to find the right words to make myself understood.’ Now, continues the father, ‘I see that you strive to be this way with your own children, and with everyone, and it moves me.”

~ Pope Francis, General Audience on The Family-3. The Father (Second Part)

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