MARY, OUR MOTHER

Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels

CHAPTER XLII: TWO HEARTS OF WIT & WISDOM

"Call no man Father."

One sincere Jehovah Witness missionary came to the door one day--doing his thing--giving us this very quotation from the Bible, he wanted to know if Jesus made this statement in the Gospel, how come Catholics call their priests Father?

Of course I asked him, on the quick, just how do you call your own Father? He said: "Oh, I call him daddy." - - - Good thinking!

However, what short solid, good answer could one give to this delicate question? It is a good question--it comes up many times.

First, as one theologian put it (Father Charles Willis, S.M.): "The Bible explains the Bible!"

So let's look at some of the quotations in the Scriptures on this subject: In the Old Testament, Almighty God gives us the 10 Commandments in the Book of Exodus 20, Chapter, telling us to honor our Father and Mother! Again and again, the Bible speaks in very specific ways to give obedience, honor, respect, love to Father and Mother! - - -

Secondly, let's not pull out of context quotations from the Scriptures!

Let's look and see--and think--: About whom is Jesus speaking in this situation, in this manner?-- One must read the entire chapter to begin to understand this statement of Jesus: He is also saying in this same chapter:

"Call no man Father--

"Call no man Teacher."

(As one J.F. used to put it, "I don't want to be a teacher, I don't want to teach you--I just want to 'learn' ya.")

Our Lord was speaking here about the pharisees, high priests, whom Jesus called vipers--hypocrites, accepting the title of father and teacher, when they were undeserving of these honored titles. - - -

Here is another, well known example, of the mistaken idea of pulling a quotation out of context: In the Bible it states:

"There is no God." But the entire quotation is:

"Only a fool says in his heart 'there is no God.' " - - -

In fact this is exactly what our beloved brethren of other faiths have done: pulling out of context quotations from the Scriptures--thus dividing and confusing the flock.

This matter of interpretation is indeed "the bottom line"--which has divided Christianity into some 350 different denominations! - - -

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