Feast of Saints Timothy and Titus, January 26, 2007

Scripture: II Timothy 1:1-8 or Titus 1:1-5; Psalm 96:1-3, 7-8,10. Mark
4:26-34 or Luke 10:1-9

Paul's letters to both Timothy and Titus are comforting and very loving.
He writes as a father would to his sons while praising these disciples
because of their strong faith in Jesus, their Messiah. He extols Lois the
grandmother of Timothy and also his mother Eunice for imparting this faith
to him. Now that both men are confirmed in their faith, he lays hands on
them in order to commission them as leaders in the churches he entrusts to
them. They are to be "episcopoi" (overseers, bishops) for Ephesus and
Crete respectively. They are part of Paul's entrusted ones who have made
him successful because of their own help in Thessolonika, Corinth, and
other places on his famous journeys. The loving friendship and support
Paul shows to these two young missionaries is edifying and contagious. In
reading II Timothy this morning I was so impressed that it made me think of
his favorite community at Philippi and the beautiful first chapter of the
Epistle to the Philippians. I realized how necessary such comforting love
is for those who have responsibility for the churches that Paul has founded
and now is entrusting to them. His love is truly the love called
"agape"--total and unconditional pure love.

In the Gospel of Mark, the continuous reading, presents three parables that
round out chapter four. This chapter is the foundation chapter for the
parables and Mark now gives us three that are parables of the kingdom of
God or the rule of God. We started the chapter with the Parable of the
Sower, now the parables of a lamp, of the silent growing seed, then the
mustard seed follow and end chapter four. I imagined St. Peter giving
these orally to Mark who then put them into the present form we read in his
Gospel. Matthew will use them and add many more that make Matthew the
Evangelist of the parables of the kingdom. I am sure that somewhere along
the line of their trips with Paul that Timothy and Titus heard these
parables in the earlier stage of Gospel formation called Oral Tradition--so
necessary for the people of that time and so cherished today in the Jewish
community, the Catholic and the Orthodox traditions. The spoken words of
Jesus and his actions were remembered and retold by the disciples and
apostles prior to their having a written text. I recalled the great
instruction given by the Pontifical Biblical Commission and Fr. Joseph
Fitzmyer's little commentary on it. It was issued in 1964 and showed the
value of modern study of the Scriptures. It's title is "The Historical
Truth of the Gospels" and shows us that within the written text, scholars
know of three stages-- the historical, the oral preaching, and the
theologizing work of each Evangelist. There is a process and development
and growth that is taking place before we have the actual final text. This
made me see that the parable that starts off for the today, namely, the
silent growing seed exemplifies this growth and development in Gospel
tradition (Mark 4:26-29). May the word of God enter our hearts and grow
steadily within them this day. Amen.