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Hi Logan!,
You said:
- Why do Catholics call their priests father, when it says
you only have one Father in Heaven?
All fatherhood is from God, and God is the original and true Father
— this is what Jesus means and St. Paul says. (Ephesians 3:14-15) No one but God
is the source of our being and our faith — though others cooperate
and are analogously called father after God, the True Father of all.
To name something in Hebrew is to claim the identity — Jesus meant
that they shouldn't attribute their Jewish identity to Moses or to
anyone else, but to God. Also, He was using a Semitic way of speaking,
seen more clearly in Jesus' words about not calling Him good.
Why
do you call someone good, when only God is good? (Mark 10:18)
As to your question about Mary:
Jesus is the one way to Heaven, of course but Mary is the way Jesus
came to earth, and she leads the way to Jesus. "They found
Him with Mary, His mother." (Matthew 2:11) This Scripture is true in a way
that is far beyond mere factual utterance of a minor circumstance of where
Jesus was. Of course, a baby would be with its mother — so Scripture,
pointing out that the Gentile Magi found Jesus with His mother, is
a way to show how all peoples can find Jesus. The Jews, of course,
have the benefit of the Law and the Prophets pointing to Jesus. Paul
and the rest did not preach the Old Testament to the Gentiles. After they were
converted, they saw Christ in the
Old Testament, but before they were converted,
they saw only the life of the Church and the teaching of the Apostles.
The life of the Church is love ("See how they love one another!"),
which Mary also practiced, and the teaching of the Apostles comes
from Christ by the sending of the Holy Spirit, who came upon the
Apostles and disciples as they gathered around Mary, the spouse of
the Holy Spirit, which is also scriptural. Read Luke 1.
Hope this helps,
Mary Ann
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