The Call to Discipleship

Reflection at Mass

Memoria of Sts. Timothy and Titus

2 Timothy 1:1-8; Ps 95:1-5; Luke 10:1-9

By Joshua Mege

The Apostles were disciple of Jesus. After Jesus the Apostles too had their own disciples. These disciples not only learned from the apostles the truth of Jesus, they also helped the apostles with the mission of spreading the Good News.

 Today the Church honours Sts. Timothy and Titus, direct and immediate fruit of St. Paul’s conversion. In a sense, therefore, today’s memoria continues yesterday’s momentum. We not only celebrated the life of a saint, but also an event in salvation history in which Christ the Lord inaugurated the massive mission that would graft all nations onto the election of Israel. The Gentile mission was set in motion as God poured out his elective grace indiscriminately upon the world. Timothy and Titus are living expressions of that grace. Each became a co-worker with Paul, an apostolic delegate, bearing the full power of the Gospel.

Yes, as Jesus said in the gospel, the harvest is rich but the labourers are few. Jesus urges more evangelizers to take the word of God into the world, for without the Gospel it is difficult to govern the world rightly. It is our duty to pray for these labourers. More still, it is our duty and responsibility to respond if we are called to be one of those labourers.

To those he called, Jesus sent them out in pairs to accompany and support each other, proclaiming the kingdom of God. He also warned them to detach from destructive materialism. In effect, brothers, we must keep check our human nature and the unglamorous details of daily life: besides the need to declare peace, charity, justice and equality, there is need for patience in “quarrels with others, fears within the self,” as Paul says to Titus. Through it all, the love of Christ sustained them.

In Paul’s final testament to Timothy: “Proclaim the word; be persistent, in season and out of season; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching. We live in times when many a people no longer tolerate sound doctrine, and have stopped listening to the truth; but following their own desires and insatiable curiosity. But you, be self-possessed in all circumstances; put up with hardship; perform the work of an evangelist; fulfil your ministry.”