Oct. 30, 2011: 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

I was in CC's Coffee a year ago with a few priest friends of mine and we were all wearing our clerical collars. As I walked toward the condiment table to add cream to my coffee, I heard someone speaking. I thought that it might be directed to me so I looked around but there was no one looking in my direction speaking to me. Then I heard more distinctly what the person was saying, "Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven," the very scripture verse from today's gospel. Again I looked around, and still, there was no one remotely looking in my direction. As I poured the sugar, I heard the person repeat the scripture passage again. I had to smile to myself because someone was displeased that a Catholic priest was there, and in protest he was quoting a scripture about why we shouldn't call anyone on earth "father".  I smiled because I thought about all the earthly fathers that we call, "father" or "daddy." Do we stop calling them "father" because of this scripture?

While I was in the seminary, someone told me that you have to 'earn' the title of "Father." It's probably natural to think that a professional title such as Dr. is a result of years of hard work. Yet, all the earthly fathers receive that title because of God's pure gift. A child does not arrive on this earth because you earn him; a child arrives because of God's gift. Therefore, whether you are an earthly father or a spiritual father, the title and the role are both gift from the Heavenly Father who shares and delegates such awesome role. All the glory is due to our Heavenly Father, alone, for everything that we accomplish we accomplish through Him.

Yet this still leaves a great responsibility on the earthly fathers to accomplish our Heavenly Father's will. How do we become fathers (for that matter, mothers--both earthly and spiritual) who make a difference by accomplishing Heavenly Father's will? In today's Gospel, we learn from Jesus what not to do. He says, "they preach but they do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people's shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them. All their works are performed to be seen." Children can quickly tell whether we practice what we preach. They are brutally frank with us when we ourselves do not live up to standards we set for them.

In all that we do we must remember what Jesus said, "The greatest among you must be your servant." St. Paul makes this a little more concrete in the Second Reading. He says, "We were gentle among you, as a nursing mother cares for her children. With such affection for you, we were determined to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our very selves as well." When we see someone preach with his actions, we are drawn to him, aren't we? That's especially true when he makes tremendous sacrifices. This is true of all the those in our lives who inspire us--coaches, teachers, grandparents, parents and other relatives.

This week I was listening to an interview of the author who wrote a biography about a man who recently died of cancer. The author said that the man had been adopted and at age 6, this boy had told the girl across the street that he was adopted. The girl said, "Oh, you're adopted, that means your parents abandoned you and didn't want you." He ran to his adoptive parents, the people he considered his real parents, and they told him, "No, no, no, you're special. We specially picked you out. You were chosen by us." Those words helped to give him a sense of being special and chosen. His dad also instilled in him at a young age something that would influence his life and his career. As the father and son were building a cabinet, the father said to him that even the parts unseen should be beautiful because although nobody else would know, you will know whether or not you used great craftsmanship. The father taught by example, not just by words, how every work we do can bring joy and sense of beauty to other's lives. The young man took his father's teaching to heart, and millions of us enjoy our iPods, iPhones, Macs, and iPads. That young man was Steve Jobs. Steve's adoptive father accomplished the Father's will by showing Steve how the work of our hands touch people's lives and bring glory to God.

Steve's adoptive father showed what kind of father he was by his love in action. This brings to question, what kind of father is Heavenly Father? What examples of love in action has our Heavenly Father demonstrated for us? The greatest example of His love in action is His greatest sacrifice in giving us His only Beloved Son. As great and mighty our Heavenly Father is, He demonstrated His unfathomable love by becoming our servant, washing our feet daily and feeding us. This was the example that He gave His disciples and is now ours to live out. Truly our Heavenly Father has given all of Himself to us because of His great love for us, and no wonder there is but one Father in Heaven.