GOD’S WORD FOR THE DAY (based on Catholic Liturgical Readings)
DATE: 26TH JANUARY 2017
THURSDAY OF THE THIRD WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
MEMORIAL OF SAINTS TIMOTHY AND TITUS, BISHOPS
FIRST READING: 2Timothy 1:1-8 OR Titus 1:1-5
PSALM: Psalm 96:1-3, 7-8, 10
GOSPEL: Mark 4:21-25
THEME: LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE
One of the explanatory rites during the celebration of the Sacrament of Baptism in the Church is the presentation of a lighted candle. The priest or deacon hands a lighted candle to the newly baptised and says to him (her), “You have been enlightened by Christ. Walk always as a child of the light and keep the flame of faith alive in your heart. When the Lord comes, may you go out to meet him with all the saints in the heavenly kingdom.” It is a charge to keep the light of Christ in a person continually alive.
In our Gospel text, Jesus asks a rhetoric question, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a bushel, or under a bed, and not on a stand?” (Mk. 4:21). He then adds, “For there is nothing hidden, except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret, except to come to light” (Mk. 4:22). In a similar vein, Paul tells Timothy, “I am reminding you now to fan into a flame the gift of God that you possess through the laying on of my hands” (2 Tim. 1:6).
We celebrate today the heroic lives of two saints who endeavoured to let their light shine. Timothy was a product of a ‘mixed’ marriage (his father a Greek and his mother a Jew). He became a convert to the Christian faith under the instrumentality of Paul, perhaps somewhere in the year 47 AD. Although young, he was sent on difficult missions by Paul and later became the bishop of Ephesus. He laid down his life for the cause of the Gospel. According to tradition, he was stoned to death at Ephesus under the reign of Nerva Caesar Augustus.
Titus, on the other hand, was a full blooded Gentile, a Greek, apparently from Antioch. He was part and parcel of the team of missionaries who worked with Paul. For example, when Paul had to deal with some trouble spots in the Christian community at Corinth, Titus was the bearer of Paul’s severe letter and he assisted in smoothing things out. He also served the Christian faith as bishop of Crete. He is said to have died a peaceful death at the age of about 95.
Often when we hear the word ‘saint’, we are inclined to think of men and women who are selected from among us and made special by God. Well, the grace of baptism makes all of us special and puts each one of us on the path towards sainthood. A saint is an example or model of a person who chose to let his (her) light shine. You too have in you what it takes to become a saint.
May we endeavour to let our light shine and thereby chase darkness away from our world.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, may your light in me never die and may my faith in you count wherever I find myself. Amen
Andrews Obeng, svd
DIVINE WORD MISSIONARIES
BIBLICAL PASTORAL MINISTRY
(Ghana Province)
“May the darkness of sin and the night of unbelief vanish before the light of the Word and the Spirit of grace. And may the heart of Jesus live in the hearts of all people” (St. Arnold Janssen).