Memorial of Saints Timothy and Titus, Bishops

Lectionary: 520/319

Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God for the promise of life in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my dear child: grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

We know little about the Saints Timothy and Titus. They are remembered for their being disciples of Saint Paul, and his letters to them. Saint Luke tells us that Timothy was Greek, and he was not circumcised until adulthood, which occurred after his conversion to Christ. We know even less about Titus.

Their feastday, immediately following Saint Paul's, tells us what is most important about them, they were his disciples. The Church was spreading rapidly from city to city throughout the Roman empire. But it was neither the latest thing nor a fashionable idea.

The apostolic leaders knew the Gospel must take deep root in the minds and hearts of those who accepted baptism. They must practice the faith in a community of faith not for years or decades but for centuries. Children must be born into the religion, shaped and formed by its beliefs, and committed to its values. Eventually the Gospel should appear in stone: cathedrals, basilicas, and churches;  architectural works that would speak to generations yet unborn. Poets, musicians, and lawyers should create the spiritual infrastructure that would shape the imagination and thought patterns so that Christians would never doubt that Jesus is Lord, and that we worship together. Husbands and wives should be faithful to one another and their children with the support and protection of a dynamic community. 

The apostolic church had the experience of Judaism; that is, of struggling as a minority in a pagan society to keep the faith. They knew the attrition that occurs as children are fascinated and distracted by the alluring values of a dominant culture. 

They knew to make sacrifices daily for the religion, and to teach the value of sacrifice. They had no memory as we do today, of being a dominant culture which just assumes that Jesus is God and everybody knows it. They would pay a heavy price for their faith and they were not surprised when the bill arrived. 

In many respects our experience is quite different. American Catholicism remembers the mid-twentieth century when being Catholic was respected. We were organized and motivated and well financed. We built churches and hospitals, schools and universities. We had cemeteries separate from the public cemeteries for our own beloved dead. We've had a hard time realizing those days are gone. 

Many Catholics of my generations have not attended a church since their childhood but still expect it will be there -- unchanged! -- when they're ready to return. "The Church doesn't change!" they were told sixty years ago and they believe it. Neighborhoods, businesses, communications, political parties change; but the Church remains recognizably the same! As if....

Saints Timothy and Titus were bishops in the mode of Jewish leaders, but they were altering the model to fit a time of hostility, ostracism, and persecution. They prayed daily for God's spirit which would not allow them to wander left or right into more appealing, less radical heresies. They knew all about bad religion and its costs. They and their people preferred painful death to betrayal. 

As we transition through the endless challenges of the twenty-first century, as we struggle to maintain democracy in the United States, amid pandemics, mass migrations, and a hostile environment, we will guard what has been entrusted to us (1 Tim 6:20). against bad religion and hateful ideologies. We owe this to our God and to our children.