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From: 2 Timothy 1:1-8

Greeting

[1] Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise
of the life which is in Christ Jesus, [2] To Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mer-
cy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. [3] I thank God
whom I serve with a clear conscience, as did my fathers, when I remember you
constantly in my prayers. [4] As I remember your tears, I long night and day to
see you, that I may be filled with joy. [5] I am reminded of your sincere faith, a
faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now,
I am sure, dwells in you.

Response to Grace

[6] Hence I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the
laying on of my hands; [7] God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of
power and love and self-control.

St Paul, Herald of the Gospel

[8] Do not be ashamed then of testifying to our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but
take your share of suffering for the gospel in the power of God.

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Commentary:

1-2. The greeting is like that of 1 Timothy, although now St Paul adds a specific
reference to the purpose of his God-given call to the apostolate—”according to the
promise of the life which is in Christ Jesus”. Christ fulfills all the promises of hap-
piness given to Abraham and the other Old Testament patriarchs. The purpose
of the Gospel message is to let men know that they have been called to enjoy a
new life in Christ, that is, the divine life whose germ we receive at Baptism. That
sacrament initiates the life of grace in the soul, and ultimately that life will blos-
som into eternal life (cf. 1 Tim 1:16; 6:12; Ti 1:2; 3:9).

On the exact meaning of the expression “in Christ Jesus”, see the note on 1
Tim 1:14.

3. “I thank God”: this is not a spontaneous expression of gratitude but rather a
permanent disposition of Paul’s soul.

St Paul makes the point that his attitude of service and worship is the same as
that of his ancestors, the righteous of the Old Testament, for although the Gos-
pel is something new it does not involve a break with the earlier revelation; rather
it brings that revelation to fulfillment. The Apostle pays tribute to the chosen peo-
ple, not hiding his satisfaction at being a Jew himself (cf. Rom 9:3; 11:1; Gal 2:
15). “The Church of Christ acknowledges”, Vatican II states, “that in God’s plan
of salvation the beginning of her faith and election is to be found in the patriarchs,
Moses and the prophets [...]. The Church cannot forget that she received the re-
velation of the Old Testament by way of that people with whom God in his inex-
pressible mercy established the ancient covenant [...]. She is mindful, moreover,
that the Apostles, the pillars on which the Church stands, were of Jewish de-
scent, as were many of those early disciples who proclaimed the Gospel of
Christ to the world” (”Nostra Aetate”, 4).

6. “The gift of God” is the priestly character which Timothy received on the day
of his ordination. St Paul is using very graphic and precise language: by the sa-
crament of Order a divine gift is conferred on the priest; it is like an ember which
needs to be revived from time to time in order to make it glow and give forth the
warmth it contains. St Thomas Aquinas comments that “the grace of God is
like a fire, which does not flow when it is covered by ashes; the same thing hap-
pens when grace is covered over in a person by sluggishness or natural fear”
(”Commentary on 2 Tim, ad loc.”).

The gifts which God confers on the priest “are not transitory or temporary in him,
but stable and permanent, attached as they are to an indelible character, im-
pressed on his soul, by which he is made a priest forever (cf. Ps 109:4), in the
likeness of Him in whose priesthood he has been made to share” (Pius XI, “Ad
Catholici Sacerdotii”, 17).

“The laying on of my hands”: see the note on 1 Tim 4:14.

7. The gift of God, received in the sacrament of Order by the laying on of hands,
includes sanctifying grace and sacramental grace, and the actual graces nee-
ded for performing ministerial functions in a worthy manner. The Council of Trent
uses this text (vv. 6-7) when it solemnly defines that Priestly Order is a sacra-
ment instituted by Jesus Christ (cf. “De Sacram. Ordinis”, chap. 3).

The minister, then, must be courageous in performing his office: he should preach
the truth unambiguously even if it clashes with the surroundings; he should do so
with love, and be open to everyone despite their faults; with sobriety and modera-
tion, always seeing the good of souls, not his own advantage. Since the days of
the Fathers the Church has urged priests to develop these virtues: “Priests
should be compassionate”, St Polycarp warns; “they should show mercy to all;
they should try to reclaim those who go astray, visit the sick, and care for the
poor, the orphan and the widow. They should be concerned always to do what is
honorable in the sight of God and men. They should avoid any show of anger, any
partiality or trace of greed. They should not be over-ready to believe ill of anyone,
not too severe in their censure, being well aware that we all owe the debt of sin”
(”Letter to the Philippians”, chap. 6).

*********************************************************************************************
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, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

From: Titus 1:1-5

Greeting

[1] Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to further the faith of
God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness, [2] in
hope of eternal life which God, who never lies, promised ages ago [3] and at the
proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been
entrusted by command of God our Savior; [4] To Titus, my true child in a com-
mon faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

[5] This is why I left you in Crete, that you might amend what was defective, and
appoint elders in every town as I directed you,

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

1-4. The heading is particularly long and formal. It contains, as usual (cf. Rom 1:
1-2; 1 Cor 1:13; etc.), the sender’s name—Paul; the addressee’s —Titus; and the
greeting—”Grace and peace”. In this case, however, Paul’s title (Apostle), and the
prerogatives of his authority and his God-given mandate to preach are given spe-
cial emphasis (v. 3). This has led some scholars to argue that the epistle was in
fact written by a disciple of St Paul—who would have put in all this about the Apos-
tle’s authority in order to give the letter more weight. However, it is more reason-
able to suppose that when St Paul was writing the letter he had Titus very much
in mind and also the community in Crete, whom false teachers were beginning
to unsettle; the solemn, official tone would be due to the serious nature of their
doctrinal aberrations and to the need to ensure that the church in Crete was pro-
perty organized.

These introductory verses provide a very succinct definition of the mission of an
Apostle: it derives from God himself, the Savior of all (vv. 1, 3); the Apostle has
a mandate from God, he is God’s representative (v. 3); the purpose of his mission
is to communicate the word of God, which is true, which “accord with godliness”
and leads to eternal life (v. 2). His letter is addressed to the believers, who had
been endowed with faith (v. 1) and whom he has to lead to heaven (v. 2).

1. “Servant of God”: in the language of the Bible, serving God means rendering
him the worship that is his due. While keeping this basic meaning, “servant of
God” means one who fulfills the task his Lord gives him. Like the Old Testament
prophets (who were conscious of having a sacred mission, which they could not
avoid: cf. Amos 3:7; Jer 7:25), St Paul knows that he has a God-given mission
which he has a duty to perform.

“To further the faith of God’s elect”: God sends his apostles to instruct people in
the faith so that they know the truth that saves and view their lives and the world
from a supernatural vantage-point. As the Church’s Magisterium has reminded
us, evangelization begins by teaching the essential revealed truths: “It is not su-
perfluous to recall the following points: to evangelize is first of all to bear witness,
in a simple and direct way, to God revealed by Jesus Christ, in the Holy Spirit; to
bear witness that in his Son God has loved the world — that in his Incarnate Word
he has given being to all things and has called men to eternal life” (Paul VI,
“Evangelii Nuntiandi”, 26).

“The truth that accords with godliness”: The virtue of godliness or “piety” includes,
particularly, openness to God, docility to his commandments and recognition of
his divinity—in a word, religion. Godliness and truth are very closely connected: to
acquire a solid, well-grounded piety one needs to have a good grasp of the truth.
St Teresa of Avila explains this in her inimitable way: “I should prefer spirituality
to be unaccompanied by prayer than not to be founded upon the truth. Learning
is a great thing, for it instructs those of us who have little knowledge, and enligh-
tens us, so that when we are faced with the truth of Holy Scripture, we act as
we should. From foolish devotions may God deliver us!” (”Life”, 13, 16).

2. In doing the work given him, the Apostle always keeps before his eyes the
“hope of eternal life”; this determines the content and purpose of his preaching
— eternal beatitude for himself and for all who accept the word of God, the at-
tainment of the indescribable joy which is God’s reward to those who love him:
“What words can describe what is to come — the pleasure, the good fortune,
the joy of being with Christ? It is impossible to explain the blessedness and
the advantage the soul has when it is returned to its noble self and can from
then on contemplate its Lord. And it is not only that he enjoys good things to
hand: his joy is permanent because these good things will never cease to be
his” (St John Chrysostom, “Ad Theod. Lapsum”, 1, 13).

“In hope of eternal life”: hope of eternal life should imbue our devout life, and it
should also inspire the truth we teach, the faith we profess and the apostolic
ministry itself.

Promised “ages ago”: this ambiguous Semitic expression (it can also be trans-
lated as “from all eternity”) refers to God’s promise of salvation made in ancient
times to the patriarchs and prophets of the Old Testament; but it refers mainly
to God’s eternal plan: from all eternity God decided to save men. This decision
of his is the basis of the theological virtue of hope; we place our hope in God
“who never lies”, who cannot deceive or be deceived.

3-4. “At the proper time”: salvation (God’s plan for all eternity, communicated in
a veiled way to the prophets) has been manifested in the fullness of time by the
advent of the Son of God (cf. Heb 1:1); preaching concerns itself exclusively with
this message of salvation. The Apostle preaches “by command of God our Sa-
vior”, not on his personal initiative. It is worth pointing out that this whole passage
is very dense and very typical of Paul’s style: lots of ideas are crammed into very
few words. The key factor is the divine plan of salvation; but the way that plan is
communicated is also important, as is the way it is carried out; the word of God,
in addition to making the plan of salvation known, is itself salvific, it is an effective
instrument of salvation. The Apostle is very conscious that his mission is divine,
for God keeps urging him on; he chose him for this very purpose and granted
him the title of “servant of God” (cf. v. 1).

On the meaning of the greeting “Grace and peace”, see the note on 1 Tim 1:2
and Rom 1:7.

5. St Paul seems to have given Titus two jobs to do. One, which is implied here,
was to complete the catechetical instruction of the young community in Crete;
there is a lot of emphasis throughout the letter on firmness in the truth, on coun-
teracting false teachers, and on the need for all believers, particularly pastors, to
have a well-grounded faith.

*********************************************************************************************
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, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

From: Mark 3:20-21

His Relatives Are Concerned About Jesus

Then He (Jesus) went home; [20] and the crowd came together again, so that
they could not even eat. [21] And when His friends heard it, they went out to
seize Him, for they said, “He is beside Himself.”

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

20-21. Some of His relatives, whose outlook was too human, regarded Jesus’s
total commitment to apostolate as excessive: the only explanation, they thought,
was that He was out of His mind. On reading these words of the Gospel, we can-
not help being moved, realizing what Jesus did for love of us: people even thought
Him mad. Many saints, following Christ’s example, have been taken for madmen
— but they were mad with love, mad with love for Jesus Christ.

*********************************************************************************************
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, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

From: Luke 10:1-9 (From Common of Pastors)

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 undoubtedly some of them were
with Him all along, from when Jesus was baptized 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 special as-
signment. Of them, as of the Apostles (cf. Luke 9:1-5), He demands total de-
tachment 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 ap-
peal in the Lord to give a willing, noble and enthusiastic response to the voice of
Christ, who at this hour is summoning 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 generously.
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 apostolate
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 apos-
tolate 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 Corinthians 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 confidence and to ensure that we are not afraid
of our assailants” (”Hom. on St. Matthew”, 33). The Apostles’ and disciples’ bold-
ness 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 pro-
viding 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, following our 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 sa-
ying, ‘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 kindness? 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 passerby he met. Therefore, there
is no question of omitting good manners to greet others; it is a matter of remo-
ving a possible obstacle in the way of service; when God commands, human con-
siderations 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 recommendation to His dis-
ciples 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 alterna-
tive. It implies the spreading of good, ‘infecting’ others with a desire to love, so-
wing 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 gree-
tings: 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 apos-
tle. But He was aware of His disciples’ material needs and therefore stated the
principle that apostolic ministry deserves its recompense. Vatican II reminds us
that we all have an obligation to contribute to the sustenance of those who gene-
rously 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 entitled to receive a just remuneration. For ‘the laborer deserves his
wages’ (Luke 10:7), and ‘the Lord commanded that they who proclaim the Gos-
pel should get their living by the Gospel’ (1 Corinthians 9:14). For this reason, in-
sofar 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 neces-
sary provision for a decent and fitting livelihood for the priests are available” (Va-
tican II, “Presbyterorum Ordinis”, 20).

*********************************************************************************************
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, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

Readings at Mass

EITHER:

First reading	2 Timothy 1:1-8 ©

From Paul, appointed by God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus in his design to promise life in Christ Jesus; to Timothy, dear child of mine, wishing you grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Christ Jesus our Lord.

Night and day I thank God, keeping my conscience clear and remembering my duty to him as my ancestors did, and always I remember you in my prayers; I remember your tears and long to see you again to complete my happiness. Then I am reminded of the sincere faith which you have; it came first to live in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice, and I have no doubt that it is the same faith in you as well.

That is why I am reminding you now to fan into a flame the gift that God gave you when I laid my hands on you. God’s gift was not a spirit of timidity, but the Spirit of power, and love, and self-control. So you are never to be ashamed of witnessing to the Lord, or ashamed of me for being his prisoner; but with me, bear the hardships for the sake of the Good News, relying on the power of God who has saved us and called us to be holy.

OR:

First reading	Titus 1:1-5 ©

From Paul, servant of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ to bring those whom God has chosen to faith and to the knowledge of the truth that leads to true religion; and to give them the hope of the eternal life that was promised so long ago by God. He does not lie and so, at the appointed time, he revealed his decision, and, by the command of God our saviour, I have been commissioned to proclaim it. To Titus, true child of mine in the faith that we share, wishing you grace and peace from God the Father and from Christ Jesus our saviour.

The reason I left you behind in Crete was for you to get everything organised there and appoint elders in every town, in the way that I told you.

Psalm	Psalm 95:1-3,7-8,10 ©