I hear it often—
folks pointing the finger,
"Y’all call your priests ‘Father.’
Jesus said call no man father.”*
They remember those words,
but they forget so many others.
They live off the words of Paul…
yet overlook what Paul himself said:
“I became your father
in Christ Jesus
through the Gospel.”
Paul wasn’t claiming power.
He was naming a relationship—
a spiritual bond born from preaching Christ,
from guiding souls,
from carrying people
toward the mercy of God.
That’s what fatherhood means in the Church.
Jesus didn't come to correct ordinary language.
He was correcting the Pharisees—
men who used titles to build themselves up,
men who piled rules on the Sabbath
until the Sabbath couldn’t breathe.
And Jesus said,
“The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
He was cutting down pride, not love.
And then—
He handed His apostles authority.
The authority to bind and loose.
The authority to shepherd,
to teach,
to guide.
A spiritual fatherhood
rooted not in ego,
but in service.
To call a priest
“Father,”
is not lifting a man above God.
It is naming the relationship
Christ Himself planted—
a father in faith,
a guide in the Gospel,
a servant who leads us
toward the heart of Jesus.
Prayer
Lord Jesus,
guide my heart toward
Your quiet truth.
Teach me to walk gently
with those who question.
Let Your Spirit steady my voice
in love.
Make me a fatherly presence
rooted only in You.
Amen
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