From: 2 Timothy 4:10-17b
News and Messages
[9] Do your best to come to me soon[, Timothy]. [10] For Demas, in
love with the present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica;
Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. [11] Luke alone is with
me. Get Mark and bring him with you; for he is very useful in serving me.
[12] Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus. [13] When you come, bring the
cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the
parchments. [14] Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the
Lord will requite him for his deeds. [15] beware of him yourself, for he
strongly opposed our message. [16] At my first defense no one took
my part; all deserted me. May it not be charged against them! [17]
But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength to proclaim the word
fully, that all the Gentiles might hear it.
Commentary:
9-18. In his letters St Paul often asks people to do things for him; his
messages here are particularly moving, given as they are on the eve
of his martyrdom. He is following the example of Christ: he puts his
trust in God even though his friends desert him (vv. 10-12, 16); his
enemies harass him more than ever, yet he forgives them (vv. 14, 16);
in the midst of his sufferings he praises the Lord (v. 18). His mention
of Thessalonica, Galatia, Dalmatia, Ephesus, Troas, Corinth and
Miletus show how warmly he remembers places which were very
receptive to the Christian message. These few verses constitute a
mini-biography.
His generosity of spirit is shown by the fact that he mentions so many
disciples by name; to all he gave of his best; some of them fell by the
wayside but most of them stayed faithful; some are mentioned in the
Acts of the Apostles or in other letters, but for others this is the only
mention in the New Testament. However, all without exception must
have been very present to the Apostle who became "all things to all
men, that I might by all means save some" (1 Cor 9:22).
10. Demas was one of St Paul's companions during his first Roman
imprisonment (cf. Col 4:14; Philem 24); but now, when the Apostle is
near to death and in a harsher prison than before, he has left him alone.
"That passage of the Second Episode to Timothy makes me shudder,
when the Apostle laments that Demas had fallen in love with the present
world and gone to Thessalonica. For a trifle, and for fear of persecution,
this man, whom St Paul had quoted in other epistles as being among
the saints, had betrayed the divine enterprise. I shudder when I realize
how little I am: and it leads me to demand from myself faithfulness to
the Lord even in situations that may seem to be indifferent--for if they
do not help me to be more united to Him, I do not want them" ([St.] J.
Escriva, "Furrow", 343).
13. The cloak he refers to was a sleeveless cape used for protection
against rain and cold. The "books" were probably less important docu-
ments usually written on sheets of papyrus, whereas the parchments
would probably have contained more important texts, such as Sacred
Scripture. This message does indicate that St Paul was fond of study
and reading. And the fact that the letter goes into details like this
speaks in favor of its being written by Paul.
16-17. St Paul points to the contrast between the way men treat him
and the way God does. Because of the hazards involved in staying
with Paul or defending him, some of his friends, even some of his
closest friends, have deserted him; whereas God stays by his side.
"You seek the company of friends who, with their conversation and
affection, with their friendship, make the exile of this world more
bearable for you. There is nothing wrong with that, although friends
sometimes let you down. But how is it you don't frequent daily with
greater intensity the company, the conversation, of the great Friend,
who never lets you down?" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 88).
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries".
Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate.
Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University
of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin,
Ireland.
Reprinted with permission from from Four Courts Press and Scepter
Publishers, the U.S. publishers.
From: Luke 10:1-9
The Mission of the Seventy Disciples
[1] After this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them on
ahead of Him, two by two, into every town and place where He Himself
was about to come. [2] And He said to them, "The harvest is plentiful,
but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to
send out laborers into His harvest. [3] Go your way; behold, I send
you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. [4] Carry no purse, no bag,
no sandals; and salute no one on the road. [5] Whatever house you
enter, first say, `Peace be to this house!' [6] And if a son of peace
is there, your peace shall rest upon him; but if not, it shall return to
you. [7] And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what
they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages; do not go from house
to house. [8] Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat
what is set before you; [9] heal the sick in it and say to them, "The
Kingdom of God has come near to you.'"
Commentary:
1-12. Those who followed our Lord and received a calling from Him (cf.
Luke 9:57-62) included many other disciples in addition to the Twelve
(cf. Mark 2:15). We do not know who most of them were; but undoub-
tedly some of them were with Him all along, from when Jesus was bap-
tized by John up to the time of His ascension--for example, Joseph
called Barrabas, and Matthias (cf. Acts 1:21-26). We can also include
Cleopas and his companion, whom the risen Christ appeared to on the
road to Emmaus (cf. Luke 24:13-35).
From among these disciples, our Lord chooses seventy-two for a spe-
cial assignment. Of them, as of the Apostles (cf. Luke 9:1-5), He de-
mands total detachment and complete abandonment to divine providence.
From Baptism onwards every Christian is called by Christ to perform
a mission. Therefore, the Church, in our Lord's name, "makes to all
the laity an earnest appeal in the Lord to give a willing, noble and
enthusiastic response to the voice of Christ, who at this hour is sum-
moning them more pressingly, and to the urging of the Holy Spirit.
The younger generation should feel this call to be addressed in a
special way to themselves; they should welcome it eagerly and gene-
rously. It is the Lord Himself, by this Council, who is once more
inviting all the laity to unite themselves to Him ever more intimately,
to consider His interests as their own (cf. Philippians 2:5), and to
join in His mission as Savior. It is the Lord who is again sending
them into every town and every place where He Himself is to come
(cf. Luke 10:1). He sends them on the Church's apostolate, an apos-
tolate that is one yet has different forms and methods, an apostolate
that must all the time be adapting itself to the needs of the moment;
He sends them on an apostolate where they are to show themselves
His cooperators, doing their full share continually in the work of the
Lord, knowing that in the Lord their labor cannot be lost (cf. 1 Corin-
thians 15:58)" (Vatican II, "Apostolicam Actuositatem", 33).
3-4. Christ wants to instill apostolic daring into His disciples; this
is why He says, "I send you out", which leads St. John Chrysostom
to comment: "This suffices to give us encouragement, to give us confi-
dence and to ensure that we are not afraid of our assailants" ("Hom
on St. Matthew", 33). The Apostles' and disciples' boldness stemmed
from their firm conviction that they were on a God-given mission: they
acted, as Peter the Apostle confidently explained to the Sanhedrin, in
the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, "for there is no other name under
heaven by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).
"And the Lord goes on," St. Gregory the Great adds, "Carry no purse,
no bag, no sandals; and salute no one on the road.' Such should be
the confidence the preacher places in God that even if he is not provided
with the necessities of life, he is convinced that they will come his way.
This will ensure that worry about providing temporal things for himself
does not distract him from providing others with eternal things" ("In
Evangelia Homiliae", 17). Apostolate calls for generous self-surrender
which leads to detachment; therefore, Peter, followingour Lord's com-
mandment, when the beggar at the Beautiful Gate asked him for alms
(Acts 3:2-3), said, "I have no silver or gold" ("ibid.", 3:6), "not so as to
glory in his poverty", St. Ambrose points out, "but to obey the Lord's
command. It is as if he were saying, `You see in me a disciple of
Christ, and you ask me for gold? He gave us something much more
valuable than gold, the power to act in His name. I do not have what
Christ did not give me, but I do have what He did give me: In the name
of Jesus Christ, arise and walk' (cf. Acts 3:6)" ("Expositio Evangelii
Sec. Lucam, in loc".). Apostolate, therefore, demands detachment
from material things and it also requires us to be always available,
for there is an urgency about apostolic work.
"And salute no one on the road": "How can it be", St. Ambrose asks
himself, "that the Lord wishes to get rid of a custom so full of kind-
ness? Notice, however, that He does not just say, `Do not salute
anyone', but adds, `on the road.' And there is a reason for this.
"He also commanded Elisha not to salute anyone he met, when He sent
him to lay his staff on the body of the dead child (2 Kings 4:29): He gave
him this order so as to get him to do this task without delay and effect
the raising of the child, and not waste time by stopping to talk to any
passer-by he met. Therefore, there is no question of omitting good
manners to greet others; it is a matter of removing a possible obstacle
in the way of service; when God commands, human considerations
should be set aside, at least for the time being. To greet a person is
a good thing, but it is better to carry out a divine instruction which could
easily be frustrated by a delay ("ibid.").
6. Everyone is "a son of peace" who is disposed to accept the teaching
of the Gospel which brings with it God's peace. Our Lord's recommen-
dation to His disciples to proclaim peace should be a constant feature
of all the apostolic action of Christians: "Christian apostolate is not a
political program or a cultural alternative. It implies the spreading of
good, `infecting' others with a desire to love, sowing peace and joy"
([St] J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 124).
Feeling peace in our soul and in our surroundings is an unmistakable
sign that God is with us, and a fruit of the Holy Spirit (cf. Galatians
5:22): "Get rid of these scruples that deprive you of peace. What
takes away your peace of soul cannot come from God. When God
comes to you, you will feel the truth of those greetings: My peace I
give to you..., peace I leave you..., peace be with you..., and you will
feel it even in the midst of troubles" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 258).
7. Our Lord clearly considered poverty and detachment a key feature
in an apostle. But He was aware of His disciples' material needs and
therefore stated the principle that apostolic ministry deserves its recom-
pense. Vatican II reminds us that we all have an obligation to contribute
to the sustenance of those who generously devote themselves to the
service of the Church: "Completely devoted as they are to the service
of God in the fulfillment of the office entrusted to them, priests are en--
titled to receive a just remuneration. For `the laborer deserves his
wages' (Luke 10:7), and `the Lord commanded that they who proclaim
the Gospel should get their living by the Gospel' (1 Corinthians 9:14).
For this reason, insofar as provision is not made from some other
source for the just remuneration of priests, the faithful are bound by
a real obligation of seeing to it that the necessary provision for a
decent and fitting livelihood for the priests are available" (Vatican II,
"Presbyterorum Ordinis", 20).
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate.
Reprinted with permission from from Four Courts Press and Scepter
Publishers, the U.S. publishers.