What an awesome and exhilarating Father’s Day and Holy Trinity Sunday it was for me on June 15, 2025, at Christ Church Newman Center, St. Cloud, Minnesota! It was a red-letter day that most certainly belongs to the annals of history.
I attend the 10 o’clock mass in the morning every Sunday. This Sunday morning in my empty nest house in St. Cloud, the thought of my adult children living in the Twin Cities Minnesota did not cross my mind as I readied myself for the Sunday mass service. Once in my garage, I backed out my car and took off on my way to Church. I was at Christ Church Newman Center parking lot in less than ten minutes. I live near my church. I alighted from my car and slowly made my way toward the church building. I exchanged greetings with the Church ushers outside. As I was walking in the Church to my favorite pew, I noticed the back side of three unfamiliar individuals sitting in the front pew. As I approached my pew right behind the first, I wondered fleetingly who the three were. Kneeling in my pew, I made the sign of the cross and was about to pray when the three persons in the front pew turned around simultaneously, looking at me smiling, and saying in unison: “hi dad.” “Oh my God,” I exclaimed. My three adult children were sitting in the front pew unbeknownst to me that they were coming to St. Cloud to be with me on Father’s Day. In my exuberance I signaled them to come around and join me in my pew. We hugged emotionally and enthusiastically as the Priest and Deacon walked in from the sacristy on their way to the altar. I could hardly contain my happiness. “What a pleasant surprise,” I muttered. I had no inkling whatsoever that they were coming to St. Cloud to be with me on this day. It felt like a dream. I could not believe it. Wow!
They certainly took off from their abodes in the Twin Cities early enough to have arrived in the Church before me. People were watching my reaction in total admiration and solidarity. Some of the on-looking congregants knew my children when they were little. The three of them were born at St. Cloud hospital in the 1990s and were baptized as babies at Christ Church Newman Center. My first son used to play the drums for the church choir. My second son and my last-born daughter used to operate the slide projector.
Many of the congregants knew that my wife with whom I had the three died in 2005, leaving me to raise them all by myself. That explained in part their reaction and admiration as they watched the drama before them between my kids and me. Through the mass I ruminated over my three children and the blessings and favors that God has bestowed and continues to bestow upon me through the years. My eyes welled up with tears in humility and gratitude.
As we were filing out at the end of the church service, people were stopping to talk to me and my children. A couple who had gifted my wife and I with our wedding cake in 1993 asked me if I knew my children were coming to church that day. I responded with “not at all.” The wife commented that I had done a very good job raising the children. Others who were relatively new to the church wanted to know if the three people with me were my children. I answered in the affirmative, of course. We headed to the parking lot after that. I suggested that we go to a restaurant for lunch. We got in our cars and headed to the Great Dragon–a favorite Chinese restaurant not far from the Newman Center. When we were seated, we chatted for a long while before going for our food. It was a buffet all you can eat without wasting the food. We took our time eating, chatting, and reminiscing. The waitress brought the bill, which I had hoped to pay for because it was I who suggested grabbing a bite to eat in the first place. However, my children would not hear of it. They rationalized that it was Father’s Day and, therefore, it was their treat for me. They didn’t have to twist my arm hard at all for me to capitulate.
Back at the house, they handed me a Father’s Day card with a fifty-dollar gift card enclosed. The gift card was that of my favorite thrift store. The front cover of the Father’s Day card had the inscription BEST* DAD* EVER*. In the inside of the cover page, they wrote: “You tell the best jokes, share the best laughs, and give the best advice.” In the next page it says “THANKS FOR BEING YOU! (the best!), followed by Happy Father’s Day, Dad. We love you always!! GraJeriTonA, Sunday, June 15, 2025.
I agree with what has been said that fatherhood is the toughest job you will ever love. I feel immensely blessed to have kids who are considerate, obedient, and respectful! I give glory and honor to God always for how my children turned out!
Anthony Akubue, St. Cloud, Monday, June 30, 2025
