Memorial of Saints Timothy and Titus, Bishops

 Lectionary: 520/317

I am grateful to God,
whom I worship with a clear conscience as my ancestors did,
as I remember you constantly in my prayers, night and day.
I yearn to see you again, recalling your tears,
so that I may be filled with joy, 
as I recall your sincere faith
that first lived in your grandmother Lois
and in your mother Eunice
and that I am confident lives also in you.

In today's first reading Saint Paul invokes Saint Timothy's upbringing in the devout household of his Jewish grandmother Lois and mother Eunice, and his own sharing of a clear conscience with their ancestors. He is grateful for, and proud of, his heritage among God's chosen people. The Apostle and his protege have been immersed in faith since their earliest days. If he wandered into Pharisaism for a while, he has turned away from that heretical nonsense back to the faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 

Many American Catholics are deeply compromised by the secular myths of upward mobility and individualism, regarding themselves as individuals. While some are obsessively concerned about their "personal salvation," more presume they're saved and should go to heaven because they have not egregiously violated any civil laws. Some go so far as to muse upon the freedom of living in the manner they choose without the ordinary inhibitions of family, neighbors, or strangers. Moving farther from the city, they claim titles to clean air, clean water, police protection, navigable roads, reliable energy and waste disposal. And then they say they are living self-sufficiently. Living that illusion entails a severe compromise of their place among the saints. 

I am delighted by Saint Paul's reference to Lois and Eunice because he recognized how Timothy belonged to a family, and reflected the faith of his family. This knowledge of God is ever ancient, ever new. Blessed by ancestors who obeyed the command of Moses to "keep repeating this to your children," he could promote the faith and keep repeating it to the next generation. And he knows the fullness of faith in the One who had come to fulfill the Law of Moses. 

Saint Paul hoped that neither Timothy nor the church he shepherded would drift back into Pharisaism. It's very hard to be judgmental toward your kin when your blood tells you that you belong to them and can never leave them. Even when you do, someone is likely to ask, "How's your Uncle, you know, the jailbird?" 

Being family is a privilege and an imposition, and we all "bear (a) share of hardship for the Gospel with the strength that comes from God."