From the Friars: The Greatest Among You

Despite our strongly egalitarian culture, we still naturally tend to bestow titles of respect on people due to their office or expertise. This is probably most prevalent in the military, where everyone from the lowest to the highest has some kind of title and rank. Only because I had gone to college, I entered the Navy as an officer and was immediately given the rank of Ensign. That meant that enlisted people had to call me “sir,” even if they had decades of service and had fought in wars. Hopefully you learn that being called sir or ma’am doesn’t mean a whole lot if you don’t earn people’s respect.

But titles, like awards and medals, are a powerful way of motivating people. I looked forward to my promotion to Lieutenant Junior Grade so that I would no longer be at the bottom of the officer totem pole. Then I longed for full Lieutenant. Then you start thinking about being called “Commander.” There is much to feed one’s ego. In the Gospel today, Jesus warns us about the danger of spiritual pride.

Titles are not bad in themselves and Our Lord is not speaking literally when He says “call no one on earth your father.” He wants to remind us that all authority, knowledge and glory come from our Heavenly Father. He shares these with us, but the danger is that we will seek them for our own personal glory. In the Navy they used to call such people “climbers,” those who did everything they could to get promoted and receive medals.

Today’s Psalm is a beautiful expression of humility and contentment with the great gift and dignity of being a child of God. “Like a weaned child on its mother’s lap, so is my soul within me.” (Psalm 131) True greatness is found in using our God-given gifts and authority for the service of others. Let us not be climbers but seekers of the lowest place.
Pax et bonum.

–Fr. Peter