August 7, 2021 - Pastor Message
December 21, 2024“Jesus went around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness. At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them for they were troubled and ab
“Jesus went around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness. At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them for they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few, so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest’” (Matthew 9:35-37).
Continuing our yearlong reflection on St. Joseph, we will reflect this month on the priesthood and how Joseph can serve as model and guide for our priests and for those who are called to ordained priesthood. The primary way that Joseph does this is through his fatherhood and his support of Jesus and Mary. First, let us consider the priest as father of the people he is called to serve.
The custom of referring to priests as father seems strange, considering that in the Latin Church they practice the discipline of celibacy, remaining unmarried and without biological children. It seems especially strange when the priest in question is younger than the people calling him father. Yet, the practice reaches back to ancient times. Religious leaders in Judaism were sometimes called father, especially those considered prophets, like Abraham and Elijah, reflecting not biological parenthood but their spiritual authority to teach and shepherd the people. By the time of Jesus, the practice seems to have been abused by selfish religious leaders who were less interested in teaching and shepherding the people than they were in fattening their own purses and bellies, prompting Jesus to warn his disciples against calling these false teachers father (Matthew 23:1-12). Clearly the early Church did not consider Jesus’ admonition as a prohibition against referring to any religious leaders as father, as Paul refers to himself as a father of the communities he helped establish (1 Corinthians 4:15). The practice was adopted in reference to bishops at least as early as the 4th century and was commonly applied to monks at around the same time. Priests began to be referred to as father in the early middle ages as the practice of private confession spread beyond monasteries where it originated to widespread use by secular priests, especially in Ireland. The influence of Irish missionaries spread the use further, ultimately to the US, where it remains the common practice even today.
Obviously the title is not a reference to any biological or legal relationship. When we call our priests father, we mean a spiritual relationship, and so we must reflect on spiritual fatherhood. Joseph images this in his relationship with Jesus and Mary. While he was legally related to Jesus and Mary by virtue of marriage, he was not Jesus’ biological father. Joseph carried out his role as father in every other respect, however, which included serving as the head of the family’s spiritual and religious life. It would have been Joseph’s responsibility to have the baby Jesus circumcised and to offer the prescribed sacrifices for a firstborn son, introducing Jesus into the Jewish faith and community. Joseph would have instructed Jesus in the faith, teaching him about the Law and the prophets and what it meant to live the law and the teachings of the prophets as a faithful member of the People of God. Joseph also modeled the faith and charity called for by the Law and the life of prayer that would characterize Jesus’ later life. We cannot read about Jesus’ own understanding of the Law and the ways in which he fulfilled it as an adult in fidelity to his heavenly Father without believing that he learned much of it from Joseph, his spiritual father. It is this understanding of fatherhood that is meant when we call our priests father, which we will explore further in next week’s column.
Fr. Marc Stockton
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