Mt. 23:1-12
How do we overcome our false sense of independence and let go of the bitterness of orphanhood?
In the faith, there are no orphans. We all come from the Father, and Jesus knows that we need to remember that. His prohibition to call others “father” is not a quick phrase to give evangelical apologists fodder to attack Catholics for calling priests “father.”
We call priests “father” as a sign of respect and hopefully it can help us bridge the gap to see God as our father. Unfortunately, the situation Jesus describes in the Gospel does not feel 2,000 years away. We are all too familiar with false teachers and hypocrites. But it would be a mistake to allow the foundation of our faith to crumble because of their bad example.
