“In our second reading St. Paul tells us, ‘Jesus died and was raised so that we might live.’ and in our Gospel we hear that familiar story of Jesus calming the storm and how faith and trust dispel all fear. It’s an overarching fear throughout all scripture. We are saved by the mercy of God. Today as we honor our earthly fathers, let us reflect upon the mercy of our heavenly Father. Father’s are called in a special way to reflect God’s love and forgiveness. There’s a short story by Ernest Hemingway titled, Capital of the World. In it he tells the tale of a Spanish father from Madrid who is searching for his son who has run away from home after having an argument with his old man. The father so desperately wants to reconcile with his beloved boy that he places an advertisement in the local newspaper and the ad reads, ‘Paco, meet me at the Hotel Montana at noon on Tuesday. All is forgiven. Love, Papa.’ On Tuesday at noon he arrives at the Hotel Montana and is astonished to discover 800 young men named Paco waiting to embrace their father’s forgiveness. It’s a fictional story, but it speaks so profoundly of the human condition for we all have a deep hunger for forgiveness. We carry the weight of guilt around. We confess our sins and we know our sins are forgiven and it’s a good feeling when we hear those words of absolution and we leave the confessional and our slate is wiped clean. The prophet Isaiah says, ‘Though your sins are scarlet, God makes them white as snow.’ and we hear the psalmist, ‘As far as the east is from the west is how far God has put our transgressions from us.’ Yet for many of us we soon become bombarded with memories and regrets of past bad decisions, selfish acts, stupid and senseless things we’ve said and done and this is all after we have confessed and many times we don’t feel forgiven. Forgiveness is not based on feelings. Forgiveness is based on faith and trust in God, so on this day when we honor our earthly fathers, let us turn to our Father in Heaven and give glory, praise and thanksgiving for his mercy in sending his son to die for the forgiveness of our sins. Fathers, today you have received cards from your children, perhaps some golf balls or a necktie. Today I want all fathers and grandfathers indeed all of us to give yourself the gift of forgiving yourself. Yet, forgiveness is conditional. Jesus teaches us to pray to his father and our father, ‘forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.’ For to forgive is to love and what better day than Father’s Day to pay it forward with God’s mercy, forgiveness and love. For those relationships that are not as good as they should be or for those relationships that have been wounded or even severed, invite your son or your daughter or a loved one to figuratively meet you at the Hotel Montana where we are all ‘Pacos’ yearning to run and find a father who declares all is forgiven.”