Family

My family is gathering today in my hometown, Marshalltown, Iowa. I have ten nieces and nephews and I look forward to watching their eyes light up as they open their presents. They teach me so much. I think I've learned a lot about being "fatherly" from my nieces and nephews, though I learn just as much from their parents. In the scriptures there is an emphatic statement from Jesus that we are to call no one, "Father". As a teenager, I remember thinking to myself that, when I became a priest, I wouldn't make anyone call me "Father." In the midst of theological studies, it occurred to me that Jesus was employing a nuance that my teenage mind could not appreciate or understand when he made that statement. I do, nonetheless, think that he wanted us to be careful with authority. There is a blinding nature that comes with power. It makes people think they are indestructible. The truth is that the term “Father” is not given to me by God to be used as power. It reminds me that I’m not the real pastor of this flock. I’m just the guy that God has chosen to stand in for him. He has given them to me and will judge me on how well I take care of them, just as he will do to fathers and mothers of children. It makes me shudder when people call me “Father.”