27th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4, 2 Tim 1: 6-8, 13-14, Luke 17: 5-10
Dear sisters and brothers,
The late archbishop Fulton J. Sheen used to say that as Christians we are God’s chosen people but from the way we live out our faith one would think that we are God’s frozen people. What is the key to enthusiasm in living the Christian life? How can we serve the Lord with dynamism? In today’s second reading from Second Timothy Paul shares with Timothy his recipe for enthusiasm in the faith.
Second Timothy was the last letter that Paul wrote. Paul wrote it when he was “chained like a criminal” in a prison in Rome (2:9) expecting to be put to death any time. “The time of my departure has come” (4:6), he writes. So, this letter can be seen as Paul’s last will and testament to his “beloved child” Timothy (1:2). Paul gives Timothy the example of his own life, how he has remained fearless and dynamic in bearing witness to the Lord even in the face of impending death. He shares with Timothy his recipe for enthusiasm in serving the Lord. The recipe Paul gives Timothy can be summarized in one short sentence: Believe it, live it, and teach it.
For this reason, I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands (1:6). The opening words of the reading give us Paul’s purpose in writing these last words to Timothy. It is to remind him to rekindle the gift of God that is within him. Even though Timothy is a bishop he still needs to be reminded that there are gifts that God has given him for the service of the church which still lie dormant within him. The same can be said of any of us who have received the laying on of hands – at baptism, confirmation or ordination. Some of us think that we have no gifts. Maybe it is more correct to say that we have not yet rekindled the gift of God within us. But the gift is there.
For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline (1:7). What is this gift that God has given us? It is the spirit of God Himself. This spirit is not a spirit of cowardice or frozenness. It is the spirt that gives us power in our relationship with God, love in our relationship with our neighbor, and self-discipline in our relationship with ourselves. The Greek word used here for power is dynamis. This is what makes us dynamic sons and daughters of God. It empowers us to serve the Lord with dynamism as opposed to lukewarmness.
In the second part of the reading Paul spells out three practical effects that will be seen in our lives when we rekindle the gift of the Holy Spirit that lies dormant within us: (1) We shall live out the faith in our lives without fear of suffering or death: “Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God” (1:8). (2) We shall believe the sound doctrine that comes from the apostles and not water it down: “Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus” (1:13). (3) We shall guard and hand on to others (teach) the deposit of the faith that has been handed down to us: “Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us” (1:14). Rev. Ezeogu)
The endings of these last three verses give us a key to how we can obtain and maintain enthusiasm. Put the endings of these three verses together and you get the answer: “relying on the power of God … in Christ Jesus … with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.” The word enthusiasm comes from two Greek words, en meaning in, and theos meaning God. Paul is saying that it is by immersing ourselves into God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – that we rekindle the life of God within us. With that we no longer live as God’s frozen people but as God’s chosen people in dynamism, love and self-discipline.
Peace and all good!
Fr. Valery Burusu
Parochial Administrator