Jan 26: Memorial of Saints Timothy and Titus Bishops (Luke 10:1-9) - THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE
- NHA CHUA CHA
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
FIRST READING - 2 Tm 1:1-8
"I recall your sincere faith that first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother."
A reading from the Letter to Timothy
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God for the promise of life in Christ Jesus,[b] 2 to Timothy, my dear child: grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
3 I am grateful to God, whom I worship with a clear conscience as my ancestors did,[c] as I remember you constantly in my prayers, night and day. 4 [d]I yearn to see you again, recalling your tears, so that I may be filled with joy, 5 as I recall your sincere faith that first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and that I am confident lives also in you.
6 For this reason, I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God[e] that you have through the imposition of my hands. 7 For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control. 8 So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord,[f] nor of me, a prisoner for his sake; but bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY - Lk 10:1-9
"The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few."
✠From the Gospel according to Luke
1 After this the Lord appointed seventy[-two][b] others whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. 2 He said to them, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest. 3 Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. 4 [c]Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way. 5 Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this household.’[d] 6 If a peaceful person[e] lives there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. 7 Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you, for the laborer deserves his payment. Do not move about from one house to another. 8 Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you, 9 cure the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God is at hand for you.’
Jan 26: Memorial of Saints Timothy and Titus Bishops (Luke 10:1-9)
THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE
Dear people of God,
In today's Word of God, God instructs the disciples on how they should conduct themselves when they go out to evangelize.
Jesus’s disciples gathered around Him to receive strength, blessings, the power to cast out demons, and the power to heal from Him, so that they could then go forth to do God’s work.
For all that God gives, humanity receives. Therefore, God the Father calls everyone to come to Him, ask Him for graces and blessings, so that everyone may receive the spirit and the strength to go forth and do good work for God the Father.
God the Father desires that people in today’s world look to the example of the past, when Jesus sent out 72 disciples to preach the Gospel, “calling people to repentance and healing all kinds of diseases and infirmities among the people.“
God the Father desires humanity to know that when those people who are sent out by God the Father, everything they do is according to the holy will that God the Father instructs the apostles. However, the apostles who were sent out had to act in accordance with God’s teachings so that God’s power and authority could be manifested through them, enabling them to help others. Otherwise, Satan will infiltrate and disrupt God’s plan, undermining the mission that God sent the apostles to do among all nations.
God calls everyone to vigilance at all times and in all places, particularly in our life of proclaiming the Gospel: we must act in accordance with what God the Father instructs, which is to possess a loving heart, to live in humility, self-abasement, littleness, simplicity, and to become the lowest servant to all our brothers and sisters.
Those who believe and follow the teachings that God the Father instructs through the apostles will also be healed by God the Father, for the image of the apostles is precisely the image of God the Father sent to humanity.
Everyone should follow what God the Father instructs, which is influenced by the Spirit of the Holy Spirit, through the disciples whom He sends forth. What God the Father teaches is living the law of love: worshipping God above all things and loving others as ourselves. Whoever does this will also be healed by God the Father of all illnesses and infirmities, through the hands of His disciples.
God the Father does not want the apostles to fall into Satan’s traps, which are: ambition, honor, and power in this world, which would prevent them from doing good work for God the Father.
God the Father desires that the apostles, when following Him and being granted the grace to cast out demons and heal the sick, emulate the image of Jesus Christ, who came into the world to become man, and always possess self-abasement, humility, meekness, and absolute obedience to God the Father. God the Father also desires that, when we follow Him, we must let go of everything belonging to the world, so that our hearts are empty, allowing the Spirit of God to dwell in our hearts and work in our very being.
Only then can the disciple fulfill the duties entrusted by God the Father, which are: casting out demons, healing the sick, calling people to repentance and to abandon the path of sin, and proclaiming the Kingdom of Heaven.
God the Father desires today’s apostles to also joyfully set out to preach the Gospel, calling people to repentance, abandon the path of sin, and return to Him.
To achieve this, those who are sent out must live and carry out the teaching that God the Father instructs; only then will Satan in the sick be subdued and defeated. And in this way, can many souls of our brothers and sisters be helped to return to God the Father, and attain the happiness of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
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