Feel Free to Call Me "Reverend Doctor Deacon, Sir"

A couple years ago Cardinal McCarrick was here to celebrate our 8:00 daily Mass.

And he brought along a concelebrant, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.

Patriarch is a special Eastern Rite title, and it’s much the same as Archbishop.

We formally address a bishop as Your Excellency; but a Patriarch is Your Beatitude.

While we were all getting ready in the sacristy,

The Cardinal and the Patriarch stepped toward the water cooler at the same time.

Cardinal McCarrick grinned and with exaggerated formality said, After you, Your Beatitude!

Patriarch Sabbah returned the mock formality saying, No, no, after you, your Eminence!

Why do we—even in the Church—use these exalted titles?

Jesus makes it clear that the exalted will be humbled and the humble will be exalted.

He even warns against using less exalted titles like Father and Teacher.

But Jesus was aware of the benefit and need for titles in human societies.

Titles help us pay proper respect to one another, and to special offices.

They give us a shorthand description for conveying information about roles and relationships.

If I introduce someone as Rabbi Borochoff, you know a lot about him just from that title

If I call my own father, Father or Dad or Sir or Mr Bockweg--- that tells you something too.

What Jesus is warning against is taking all these titles too seriously.

We may have different roles in society.

We may be presidents, chiefs, chairpersons, directors, bosses or heads of families.

Celebrities or just plain folks.

But we’re all brothers and sisters.

All children of God.

And that’s the fundamental basis for our relationships and our respect for one another.

It’s easy to be swayed by exalted titles.

And inflated expectations based on those titles create a danger for all involved.

It’s dangerous for those looking up to the titled and planning to emulate them.

How often have we seen the highly exalted fail as role models?

As Jesus says, Do not follow their example.

Many of us today have learned that lesson; we’ve seen the failures again and again.

And it’s dangerous for those tempted to look down from their titles.

They can come to believe that they truly are more deserving than the common folk.

Or they can become isolated by the formality and distance their title engenders.

The person who headed our Supreme Court some decades ago

Was criticized for taking himself much too seriously.

A magazine article said that his closest friends call him Mr Chief Justice.

So I appreciate having witnessed the knowing grins during that little exchange in the sacristy.

And other genuine indications from archbishops and generals and judges and senators.

We all see damage from hero-worship and ego trips every day.

But we’re fortunate to live in a time and a society where we also see many positive signs.

Many of those viewing and those holding the exalted titles do grasp Jesus’ message.

It’s up to us to spread that message further—the call for humble service.

Tuesday,  2nd Week of Lent

Mt 23:1-12                                 Read this Scripture @usccb.org