Memorial of Saints Timothy and Titus, bishops
January 26, 2024
Today”s Readings:
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/012624.cfm
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we have two beautiful readings to enrich our prayer.
In our first reading, Paul blesses and encourages his young disciple Timothy. Reminding Timothy of his faith heritage, received from his mother and grandmother, Paul inspires Timothy to live a spiritually courageous life:
I remind you to stir into flame
2 Timothy 1: 6-8
the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands.
For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice
but rather of power and love and self-control.
So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord,
nor of me, a prisoner for his sake;
but bear your share of hardship for the Gospel
with the strength that comes from God.
Praying with this passage, we can look both back and forward – to those who have encouraged our faith, and to those who depend on us for edification.
… the seed would sprout,
they know not how
Image by Rosy / Bad Homburg / Germany from Pixabay
In our Gospel, Jesus paints a picture for his disciples of what the Kingdom of Heaven is like. This is a realm in which we already live – the eternal universe of the Creator’s love and grace. But our time-bound eyes can’t see that world clearly. It is more real than our physical world, but perceptible only to the awakened spirit.
Jesus tries to explain this “kingdom” to his followers. He says that like the growth of a seed, this world is a sacred mystery whose energy is generated by God, not by us:
This is how it is with the Kingdom of God;
Mark 4: 26-29
it is as if someone were to scatter seed on the land
and would sleep and rise night and day
and the seed would sprout and grow,
they know not how.
Of its own accord the land yields fruit,
first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
And when the grain is ripe, they wield the sickle at once,
for the harvest has come.
Paul and Jesus encouraged their followers to live in joyous alignment with this Divine Order – the “Kingdom of God”, as scripture calls it. In our prayer today, let’s listen to their counsel, for it is meant for us as well.
Poetry: Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower – Rainer Maria Rilke, Sonnets to Orpheus II, 29
“Quiet friend who has come so far,
feel how your breathing makes more space around you.
Let this darkness be a bell tower
and you the bell. As you ring,
what batters you becomes your strength.
Move back and forth into the change.
What is it like, such intensity of pain?
If the drink is bitter, turn yourself to wine.
In this uncontainable night,
be the mystery at the crossroads of your senses,
the meaning discovered there.
And if the world has ceased to hear you,
say to the silent earth: I flow.
To the rushing water, speak: I am.”
Music: Lamb of God – from the Mass of St. Timothy – Matt Maher
Lavish Mercy 