REFLECTIONS TODAY
Many non-Catholics object to Catholics calling the priest “Father” in line with what Jesus says in the Gospel, that no disciple is greater than his teacher.
Elsewhere, Jesus declares, “Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven (Mt 23:9).
But St. Paul refers to himself as “father” to those he brought to faith in Christ: “Even if you should have countless guides to Christ, yet you do not have many fathers, for I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (1 Cor 4:15). Obviously, Jesus did not mean an absolute prohibition on calling “Father” anyone else other than God. Rather, he aimed to curb the pride and pretense that come with titles that some people like to claim for themselves. The key to understanding Jesus is always humility.
Gospel • Matthew 10:24-33
Jesus said to his Apostles: “No disciple is above his teacher, no slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, for the slave that he become like his master.
If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more those of his household! “Therefore do not be afraid of them. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known.
What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.
Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Everyone who acknowledges me before others, I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.”
Source: “365 Days with the Lord 2023,” St. Paul’s, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.