Sts. Timothy and Titus

 The Church remembers Sts. Timothy and Titus, Evangelists, Bishops, and a Martyr

Orate pro nobis.

Timothy

Timothy was a teenager when he met Paul. His family lived in Lystra so he was a Galatian. His father was a Greek man; we know nothing of his faith. But, Timothy’s mom and grandmother were faithful Jewish women who taught the Old Testament scriptures to this boy they loved so much (Acts 16:1; 2 Timothy 1:5). 

As the women heard Paul preach, they believed in Jesus, and so did Timothy. Timothy may have seen Paul heal a lame man in his town. That would have been exciting! He may also have watched as an angry mob threw stones at Paul and left him for dead (Acts 14:8-20). Yet, he also knew Paul survived. When Paul came back to Lystra a couple of years later on his second journey, Paul invited Timothy to travel with him.

Timothy helped Paul to establish churches at Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea (Acts 16:1 – 17:14). When Paul left Berea to go to Athens he left Timothy and Silas behind, but later sent word for them to join him (Acts 17:13-15). Timothy was sent to Thessalonica to strengthen the faith of believers there (1 Thessalonians 3:1-2). Timothy was a trustworthy friend who carried money collected by the Philippian church to care for Paul’s needs in Corinth. 

During the 3 years Paul was in Ephesus teaching them about the amazing power of God, Timothy was there, too. When Paul was imprisoned in Rome for two years, Timothy was right alongside him much of the time unselfishly taking care of Paul’s needs. By now, Timothy was a young man of about 30 who for at least 13 years had been learning how to teach about Jesus and serve God’s people well as he watched Paul do it. Paul thought of Timothy not only as a very faithful friend but also as his spiritual son.

After Paul’s release from prison in Rome, Timothy and Paul traveled to visit friends in the churches they had founded. When they got to Ephesus, Paul recognized some men in the church were teaching error about Jesus saying that Jesus could not have been a man and God at the same time. Paul wanted to go on to visit his friends in Macedonia, but he didn’t want to leave the Ephesian church in turmoil. So, he left Timothy to teach truth to the church there while Paul went on to Macedonia. As an “apostolic representative, Timothy had the authority to order worship (1 Timothy 2:1-15) and appoint elders and deacons (1 Timothy 3:1-3). Paul thought he’d get back to Ephesus soon, but that didn’t happen. He was concerned about what was going on in Ephesus, so he wrote Timothy the letter called 1st Timothy around AD 64 from Rome or Macedonia.

Six of Paul’s epistles include Timothy in the salutations. The most tender and moving of Paul’s letters was his last one to Timothy. He was a prisoner in a Roman dungeon when he wrote 2 Timothy, approximately AD 67. He knew he had a short time to live, so the letter is his spiritual last will and testament – his “dying wish” – to encourage Timothy and to request that Timothy join him during his final days of imprisonment (2 Timothy 1:4; 4:9, 21).

Timothy remained in Ephesus until AD 97. During a pagan celebration of a feast called “Catagogian,” Timothy severely reproved the people in the procession for their ridiculous idolatry. This antagonized the partygoers who beat him with clubs “in so dreadful a manner that he expired of the bruises two days later.”

Titus

During Paul’s first missionary journey, a young man named Titus heard Paul preach about Jesus. Titus was Greek—he had not grown up worshiping the God of the Bible. As he listened to Paul, Titus’ heart responded to the message, and he believed in Jesus. Paul brought him to Jerusalem (Galatians 2:1-4) to show the apostles and other Jewish believers how a Greek non-Jew could love God just as much as they did. Titus represented all the other non-Jewish people who became Christians and were completely accepted by God through their faith in Jesus Christ—like most of us!

Titus continued to travel with Paul on missionary journeys, helping in the work of sharing the gospel. During the 3 years Paul was in Ephesus teaching them about the amazing power of God (third journey), Titus was there. Then, Paul sent him to Corinth to alleviate tension there (2 Corinthians 7:6, 13-14) and to collect money for the poor (2 Corinthians 8:6, 16, 23). Paul thought of Titus not only as a very faithful friend but also as his spiritual son because he had led him to trust Christ.

After Paul was released from the Roman prison where he had been for two years, he and Titus traveled to the island of Crete. Paul and Titus taught the people, called Cretans, about their need for God and the good news about Jesus (Titus 1:4-5). Soon there were enough believers to start churches in several towns. Paul wanted to go visit the church in Corinth so he left Titus to continue teaching the new Christians and to appoint church leaders for each new church. Someone came to replace him in Crete so Titus met Paul in western Macedonia and continued his missionary work northward into what is now Albania (2 Timothy 4:10). The gospel was really spreading into Europe.

Back in Crete, though, Titus was a busy man as he cared for all the new Cretan believers, especially because the people just didn’t know how to do what is good in God’s eyes. Paul knew Titus needed some encouragement and reminders of what was important to teach the people. Paul wrote to Titus soon after writing 1st Timothy, probably while Paul was in Macedonia, on his way to Nicopolis (Titus 3:12). Paul hoped to join Titus again, but there is no way of knowing whether that meeting ever took place. Tradition has it that Titus later returned to Crete and there served out the rest of his life.

Almighty God, you called Timothy and Titus to be evangelists and teachers, and made them strong to endure hardship: Strengthen us to stand fast in adversity, and to live godly and righteous lives in this present time, that with sure confidence we may look for our blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. 

Amen.

#Jesus #christianity

St. Gregory of Nyssa

 Today, the Church remembers and gives thanks for one of the greatest Christian thinkers, teachers, and saints: Gregory of Nyssa.

Ora pro nobis.

Gregory of Nyssa (c. A.D. 335 – 395), was bishop of Nyssa from 372 to 376 and again from 378 until his death. Gregory, his elder brother, Basil of Caesarea, and their friend Gregory of Nazianzus, are collectively known as the Cappadocian Fathers.

Gregory lacked the administrative ability of his brother Basil or the contemporary influence of Gregory of Nazianzus, but he was an erudite theologian who made significant contributions to the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity and the Nicene Creed.

Gregory’s parents had suffered persecution for their faith: he writes that they “had their goods confiscated for confessing Christ.” Gregory’s maternal grandmother, Macrina the Elder is also revered as a saint and his maternal grandfather was a martyr as Gregory put it “killed by Imperial wrath” under the persecution of the Roman Emperor Maximinus II.

Gregory’s temperament is said to have been quiet and meek, in contrast to his brother Basil, who was known to be much more outspoken.

Gregory was first educated at home, by his mother Emmelia and sister Macrina. Little is known of what further education he received. It seems likely that he continued his studies in Caesarea, where he read classical literature, philosophy and perhaps medicine. Gregory himself claimed that his only teachers were Basil, “Paul, John and the rest of the Apostles and prophets.”

Gregory was a highly original and sophisticated thinker, and his writings are often difficult to classify. This is often due to the lack of systematic structure and the presence of terminological inconsistencies in Gregory’s work.

Gregory, following Basil, defined the Trinity as “one essence in three persons”, the formula adopted by the Council of Constantinople in 381. Like the other Cappadocian Fathers, he was a “homoousian”, a believer in the essential oneness of God, three in person but one in being. According to Gregory, the differences between the three persons of the Trinity reside in their relationships with each other, and the triune nature of God is revealed through divine action (despite the unity of God in His action).

Gregory was one of the first theologians to argue that God is infinite. His main argument for the infinity of God is that God’s goodness is an essential characteristic of God, and that being limitless it follows that God is also limitless. An important consequence of Gregory’s belief in the infinity of God is his belief that God, as limitless, is essentially incomprehensible to the limited minds of created beings, in contrast to some of his contemporaries, and of many preachers today. In his ‘Life of Moses’, Gregory writes: “…every concept that comes from some comprehensible image, by an approximate understanding and by guessing at the Divine nature, constitutes a idol of God and does not proclaim God.”

Gregory’s theology was thus apophatic: that is, he proposed that God should be defined in terms of what we know He is not rather than what we might speculate Him to be. Accordingly, he taught that due to God’s infinitude, a created being can never reach an absolute understanding of God, and thus for man in both life and the afterlife there is a constant progression towards the unreachable knowledge of God, as the individual continually transcends all which has been reached before. In the ‘Life of Moses’, Gregory speaks of three stages of this spiritual growth: initial darkness of ignorance, then spiritual illumination, and finally a darkness of the mind in mystic contemplation of the God who cannot be comprehended.

Gregory seems to have believed so deeply in the love of God that ultimately nothing and no one in creation could fail to accept God’s love, and so believed that humankind will be collectively returned to sinlessness, while still paradoxically maintaining the orthodox belief in the necessary sacrament of Baptism for salvation, and that human free will, even in the full presence of God, could still choose to remain separated from God.

Gregory’s beliefs about human nature were founded on the essential distinction between the created and uncreated. Man is a material creation, and thus limited, but created with limitless capacity in that his immortal soul has an indefinite capacity to grow closer to God through the imitation of Christ. Gregory also held such a high view of humankind the he strongly believed that the soul is created simultaneous to the creation of the body at conception, and that unborn children were thus full and true persons made in the image of God. This also informed his teachings about the inherent evil of slavery.

To Gregory, the human being is exceptional, being created in the image of God. Humanity is theomorphic both in having self-awareness and free will, the latter which gives each individual existential power, because to Gregory, in disregarding God one negates one’s own existence. In his ‘Song of Songs’, Gregory metaphorically describes human lives as paintings created by apprentices to a master: the apprentices (the human wills) imitate their master’s work (the life of Christ) with beautiful colors (virtues), and thus man strives to be a reflection of Christ.

Gregory was one of the first Christian voices to say that slavery as an institution was inherently evil and sinful. He believed that slavery, as did abortion, violated mankind’s inherent worth, and the nature of humanity to be free; a departure from classical, and Judeo-Christian precedent which he rooted in Genesis, arguing that man was given mastery of animals but not of humans. His was the first and only sustained critique of the institution of slavery and infanticide made in the ancient world.

Anthony Meredith writes of Gregory’s mystical and apophatic writings in his book Gregory of Nyssa (The Early Church Fathers) (1999):

“Gregory has often been credited with the discovery of mystical theology, or rather with the perception that darkness is an appropriate symbol under which God can be discussed. There is much truth in this….Gregory seems to have been the first Christian writer to have made this important point…”

J. Kameron Carter writes about Gregory’s stance on slavery, in the book Race a Theological Account (2008):

“What interests me is the defining features of Gregory’s vision of the just society: his unequivocal stance against ‘the peculiar institution of slavery’ and his call for the manumission of all slaves. I am interested in reading Gregory as a fourth century abolitionist intellectual….His outlook surpassed not only St. Paul’s more moderate (but to be fair to Paul, in his moment, revolutionary) stance on the subject but also those of all ancient intellectuals — Pagan, Jewish and Christian – from Aristotle to Cicero and from Augustine in the Christian West to his contemporary, the golden mouthed preacher himself, John Crysotom in the East. Indeed, the world would have to wait another fifteen centuries — until the nineteenth century, late into the modern abolitionist movement — before such an unequivocal stance against slavery would appear again.”

Blessed Gregory, we remain still so mired in sin that there are more humans being held in slavery, or murdered as infants, today than at any time in recorded history. There are so many who believe that they know with certainty the mind of God that they invoke the Holy One to do terrible acts of violence, or lead them away from the true Faith and lead many astray.

That we, made in the image of God, called to pursue the imitation of Christ and work for the freedom, life, and salvation of all peoples, might return in all humility to the mystical/interior meditation upon the absolute love of God… ora pro nobis.

Amen.

Almighty God, you have revealed to your Church your eternal Being of glorious majesty and perfect love as one God in Trinity of Persons: Give us grace that, like your bishop Gregory of Nyssa, we may continue steadfast in the confession of this faith, and constant in our worship of you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; for you live and reign for ever and ever.

Amen.

#Saints #Jesus #UnbornLivesMatter #AbortionIsMurder #slaveryisevil #Godlovesyou

St. Thomas Beckett

Today is the 5th Day of Christmas. 

The Church also remembers St. Thomas Beckett, Bishop and Martyr.

Ora pro nobis. 

Born in AD 1118, Thomas eventually became the Archbishop of Canterbury. In AD 1170, Thomas was brutally murdered after he confronted the king for his seeking to exert power over the life of the Church. 

"What miserable drones and traitors have I nourished and brought up in my household, who let their lord be treated with such shameful contempt by a low-born cleric?", said the king. Four knights took this as a royal command, and later burst into the cathedral at night, and brutally murdered him as he clung to the altar. 

May we follow his example of allegiance to the Faith over allegiance to human authorities, civic or ecclesiastical, even at the cost of our lives. For those who stand up to those who abuse power, who refuse to be bullied into betraying their conscience or faith, who work for liberty in conscience and freedom of religion, St. Thomas Beckett, pray for us.

O God, our strength and our salvation, you called your servant Thomas Becket to be a shepherd of your people and a defender of your Church: Keep your household from all evil and raise up among us faithful pastors and leaders who are wise in the ways of the Gospel; through Jesus Christ the shepherd of our souls, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. 

Amen.

Slaughter of the Innocents

 On this 4th Day of Christmas, the Church remembers the Holy Innocents, that otherwise nameless and unremembered group of children who were brutally murdered by a power mad king in his attempt to kill the infant Jesus and so eliminate a possible threat to his continued dominion. 

Orate pro nobis.

How often do we accept when we are told by those holding the reins of power that "collateral damage" is acceptable or inevitable, or do we turn a blind eye towards the suffering of children, when inflicted in the name of maintaining privilege, luxury, access to cheap goods, or dominion?  

How long until we see every human person as our own child, our own most beloved, for whom we have the duty of care? How long until we refuse to serve any power, system, economy, or person that reduces anyone into a commodity, a problem to be eliminated, an alien, or as lacking the same human dignity that we demand for ourselves? 

...until the day that we are ourselves transformed by the love of God, and the world is renewed...

For the dawning of that day, please, pray. 

We remember today, O God, the slaughter of the holy innocents of Bethlehem by King Herod. Receive, we pray, into the arms of your mercy all innocent victims; and by your great might frustrate the designs of evil tyrants and establish your rule of justice, love, and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. 

Amen.

St. John the Beloved

 Today, the Third Day of Christmas, the Church remembers St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, the author of the Gospel of John, the Letters of John, and the Book of the Revelation.

Ora pro nobis.

The Apostle John was a historical figure, one of the "pillars" of the Jerusalem church after Jesus' death. He was one of the original twelve apostles and is thought to be the only one to have lived into old age and not be killed for his faith. He was exiled (around 95 AD) to the Aegean island of Patmos, where he wrote the Book of Revelation.

He was the "beloved disciple", who as a young man was one of the early disciples of Jesus. Of all the male apostles, John is the only one who did not run away when Jesus was arrested and crucified. He stood with Mary, the mother of Jesus, at the foot of the the cross, and there Jesus commended the duty of care for his mother to him. John cared for Mary until her death many years later. 

He lived to old age, even though he faced exile, deprivation, and torture because of his faith in Jesus. He wrote many of the works that are part of the Christian holy scriptures, perhaps most famously the words that begin with "God so loved the world..." and "God is love". 

In gratitude we remember John, faithful witness of Jesus and his recording of Jesus’ astonishing revelation that the nature of God is self-emptying, self-sacrificing love.

Shed upon your Church, O Lord, the brightness of your light, that we, being illumined by the teaching of your apostle and evangelist John, may so walk in the light of your truth, that at length we may attain to the fullness of eternal life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. 

Amen.

St. Lucy, Martyr

 Today the Church remembers Lucia of Syracuse (283–304 AD).

Ora pro nobis.

St. Lucia, or St. Lucy, was a Roman Christian martyr who died during the Diocletianic Persecution. She is one of eight women (including the Virgin Mary) explicitly commemorated by Roman Catholics in the Canon of the Mass. Her traditional feast day, known in Europe as Saint Lucy's Day, is observed by Western Christians on 13 or 16 December. Lucia of Syracuse was honored in the Middle Ages and remained a well-known saint in early modern England. She is one of the best known virgin martyrs, along with Agatha of Sicily, Agnes of Rome, Cecilia of Rome and Catherine of Alexandria.

Sources

The oldest record of her story comes from the fifth-century Acts of the Martyrs. The single fact upon which various accounts agree is that a disappointed suitor accused Lucy of being a Christian, and she was executed in Syracuse, Sicily, in the year 304 AD during the Diocletianic Persecution. Her veneration spread to Rome, and by the sixth century to the whole Church. The oldest archaeological evidence comes from the Greek inscriptions from the Catacombs of St. John in Syracuse. Jacobus de Voragine's Legenda Aurea was the most widely read version of the Lucy legend in the Middle Ages. In medieval accounts, Saint Lucy's eyes were gouged out prior to her execution. The most ancient archaeological traces attributable to the cult of Saint Lucia have been brought back to Sicily, particularly in Syracuse and are preserved in the archaeological museums of the city.

Life

According to the traditional story, Lucy was born of rich and noble parents about the year 283 AD. Her father was of Roman origin,[1] but died when she was five years old,leaving Lucy and her mother without a protective guardian. Her mother's name Eutychia seems to indicate that she came from a Greek background.

Like many of the early martyrs, Lucy had consecrated her virginity to God, and she hoped to distribute her dowry to the poor. However, Eutychia, not knowing of Lucy's promise, and suffering from a bleeding disorder, feared for Lucy's future. She arranged Lucy's marriage to a young man of a wealthy pagan family.

Saint Agatha had been martyred 52 years before during the Decian persecution. Her shrine at Catania, less than 50 miles from Syracuse, attracted a number of pilgrims; many miracles were reported to have happened through her intercession. Eutychia was persuaded to make a pilgrimage to Catania, in hopes of a cure. While there, St. Agatha came to Lucy in a dream and told her that because of her faith her mother would be cured and that Lucy would be the glory of Syracuse, as she was of Catania. With her mother cured, Lucy took the opportunity to persuade her mother to allow her to distribute a great part of her riches among the poor.

Eutychia suggested that the sums would make a good bequest, but Lucy countered, "...whatever you give away at death for the Lord's sake you give because you cannot take it with you. Give now to the true Savior, while you are healthy, whatever you intended to give away at your death."

News that the patrimony and jewels were being distributed came to Lucy's betrothed, who denounced her to Paschasius, the Governor of Syracuse. Paschasius ordered her to burn a sacrifice to the emperor's image. When she refused, Paschasius sentenced her to be defiled in a brothel.

The Christian tradition states that when the guards came to take her away, they could not move her even when they hitched her to a team of oxen. Bundles of wood were then heaped about her and set on fire, but would not burn. Finally, she met her death by the sword thrust into her throat.

Absent in the early narratives and traditions, at least until the fifteenth century, is the story of Lucia tortured by eye-gouging. According to later accounts, before she died she foretold the punishment of Paschasius and the speedy end of the persecution, adding that Diocletian would reign no more, and Maximian would meet his end. This so angered Paschasius that he ordered the guards to remove her eyes. Another version has Lucy taking her own eyes out in order to discourage a persistent suitor who admired them. When her body was prepared for burial in the family mausoleum it was discovered that her eyes had been miraculously restored.. This is one of the reasons that Lucy is the patron saint of those with eye illnesses.

Almighty God, by whose grace and power your holy martyr Lucia triumphed over suffering and was faithful even to death: Grant us, who now remember her in thanksgiving, to be so faithful in our witness to you in this world, that we may receive with her the crown of life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

Amen.

3rd Sunday of Advent

 John the Baptist, Jesus’ own cousin, was in prison for preaching the truth. He had baptized Jesus, had seen the Holy Spirit descend on him like a dove, and had heard the voice of God say "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

John had seen it, and heard it, yet in his despair he began to question it. Why was he in prison if the Son of God had come? Why were the Romans still in charge? Why was Herod still on the throne? Why was there still evil? He sent some disciplescto ask, "Are you the One, or are we to wait for another?"

He had seen! He had heard! And his suffering caused him to doubt. How like John we all are.

How did Jesus reply? "Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me."

We all want the healing to happen to us, the cleansing, the raising. And we want it to happen now!But just because it isn’t happening to us right this moment does not mean it isn’t happening.

God is working out his design at his own pace. He will bring his kingdom, the new heaven and new earth, in the fullness of his time. And while we wait, often in the midst of sorrow, shadow, death, and oppression, we must turn in faith back to the One who experienced the worst that we could do to him, and who loved us from the cross, to find hope and endurance in trust that his resurrection will also be ours someday.

May that day come quickly! In this Advent season of hopeful waiting, we cry out maranatha!, Lord, come quickly!

#hopeinjesus #TrustGod #FaithEndures #faith #hope #TrustGod #Godiswithus #Godlovesus