Saints quotes for Father's Day
- Aimee Boudreaux MacIver
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Happy Father's Day! What a gift men are to the world.
Jesus taught us to relate to God as a father—not in a formal, remote sense, but as our "Abba," an intimate diminutive used by little children in their closest family relationships (like "Daddy" in English). With this divine paradigm, there are few things more consequential in our lives than our relationships with our fathers, both natural and spiritual. Fatherhood is above all an image of God's self-donating love.
Many saints were fathers themselves, and every saint had an earthly father, some excellent and some terrible. So, naturally, the saints have a lot to say about fathers and fatherhood. As you read their words here, notice which stand out to you. Consider choosing that quote to be your focus for prayer and contemplation this week. And don’t forget to add one of these sacred quotes to your Father's Day cards. (P.S. If you're looking for some great gift ideas, check out our gift guides for men here, 14 totally free gift ideas here, and great last minute gifts here.)
We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures; we are the sum of the Father’s love for us and our real capacity to become the image of his Son.
+St John Paul II
Happiness is to be found only in the home where God is loved, honored, where each one loves, and helps, and cares for the others.
+St Theophane Venard
Think of me as a little child who is learning to stand but does not yet know how to walk. In her desire to reach the top of the stairs to find her mother, she lifts her little foot to climb the first step. At each attempt, she falls. Be like that little child. Always keep lifting your foot to climb the ladder of holiness, and do not imagine that you can mount even the first step. All God asks of you is good will. From the top of the ladder He looks lovingly upon you, and soon, touched by your efforts, He will Himself come down, and, taking you in His Arms, will carry you to His Kingdom never again to leave Him.
+St Thérèse of Lisieux
Be firm, be virile, be a man. And then...be a saint.
+St Josemaria Éscriva
The Father is merciful in all he does and full of generosity; he is loving to those who fear him.
+St Clement I
See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are.
+ 1 John 3:1
And what was the first rule of our dear Savior’s life? You know it was to do his Father’s will. Well, then, the first end I propose in our daily work is to do the will of God; secondly, to do it in the manner he wills; and thirdly, to do it because it is his will.
+St Elizabeth Ann Seton
It was Christ’s wish that we too should be heirs of the Father, and coheirs with himself.
+St Augustine of Hippo
As the family goes, so goes the nation, and so goes the whole world in which we live.
+St John Paul II
For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, ‘Abba, Father!'
+ Romans 8:15
Day after day I was able to observe the austere way in which he lived. By profession he was a soldier and, after my mother's death, his life became one of constant prayer. Sometimes I would wake up during the night and find my father on his knees, just as I would always see him kneeling in the parish church. We never spoke about a vocation to the priesthood, but his example was in a way my first seminary, a kind of domestic seminary.
+St John Paul II (referring to his own father, Karol Wojtyla, Sr.)
Children learn more by the eye than by the ear. Let your life be their book.
+St Francis de Sales
Jesus has chosen to show me the only way which leads to love; it is the way of childlike self-surrender, the way of a child who sleeps, afraid of nothing, in her father’s arms.
+St Thérèse of Lisieux
When we had our children, our ideas changed somewhat. We lived only for them. They were all our happiness, and we never found any except in them. My husband is a saintly man, and we help one another to bear the difficulties of life.
+ St Zélie Martin
In revealing and in reliving on earth the very fatherhood of God, a man is called upon to ensure the harmonious and united development of all the members of the family.
+St John Paul II
No earthly pleasures, no kingdoms of this world can benefit me in any way. I prefer death in Christ Jesus to power over the farthest limits of the earth. He who died in place of us is the one object of my quest. He who rose for our sakes is my one desire.
+St Ignatius of Antioch
We must fear God out of love, not love Him out of fear.
+St Francis de Sales
Yet, Lord, you are our father; we are the clay and you our potter: we are all the work of your hand.
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