Christianity is a story of sharing. Christ shared with humanity the Word of the Father, and those with whom he intimately shared could in turn share Christ to others. All of us who consider ourselves to be Christian received the truth of Christ from someone else because Christianity is inherently a gift that is meant to be handed on. The Christian Church would not have the influence or widespread presence in the world had it not been for those who shared Christ in the earliest days of the Church. Among those individuals, Paul was the most prolific in moving from community to community in order to spread the Gospel. Were it not for him, Christianity may have remained a small community in Jerusalem for quite some time. Were it not for him, the communities in modern-day Greece and Turkey would not have been founded, and all the great saints who arose from those communities may never have heard the message of Christ, including Timothy and Titus.

In a certain sense, Timothy and Titus are perfect examples of the gift of Christianity being spread and passed on from community to community. Timothy and Titus were two Christians from Turkey and Greece respectively who encountered Paul on his missionary journeys and decided to follow him as companions. The two of them never had a personal encounter with Christ in the way that the other Apostles did or in the mystical way that Paul did. Instead, they trusted in the conviction and love that spilled out of Paul and which inspired him to travel the world to share Christ with others. Both Timothy and Titus are recipients of letters from Paul or someone writing as Paul, which are included within the canon of Sacred Scripture. These men are absolutely integral to the idea that Christianity, and even authority on par with Sacred Scripture, is something that is passed on and passed down through tradition. It is shared because it is a gift; Timothy and Titus shared the gift of Christ to others just as Paul did because he instilled in them an understanding that the Christian message was never meant to be kept away from the world. It was meant to be shared with the world. If there is one thing we ought to consider about Timothy and Titus, though, it is that they were specifically companions of Paul. In the Church today, there are still holy and decent Christians who are willing to go into the world and evangelize with the gift of the Gospel. They cannot do it on their own. Some are called to be the evangelists, but some are also called instead to be those companions like Timothy and Titus, aiding and supporting the Gospel through their mere presence.

Christ told his followers that his message is like the light within a lamp; it is not meant to be hidden, and sharing it or passing it on will not diminish your own ownership of this truth. If the gift of the Gospel is like a flame that eternally keeps on giving without ever diminishing from its source, then it is not only possible but crucial that we share it with others. If this is something that you may feel inadequate at doing, do not worry. Even Paul assures us that there are different roles for different types of people within the Christian community. Perhaps God is calling you to be like Timothy and Titus, to be companions of the evangelists and of those who are capable of being moved by the Spirit in their words and deeds. Your support and your numbers speaks volumes to the world around you. It emphasizes that we are a community based on love of Christ, and that together we give back to God according to our capabilities.

One of the wonderful things about Catholicism is the harmony between faith and reason that is at the core of our belief. Both faith and reason come directly from God, and when authentic, are perfectly harmonious with each other. We live in a world in which faith is often considered silly, unnecessary, and obsolete; many people who hold this view also consider themselves defenders of pure reason, although their understanding of the natural world is based more on “scientism” rather than true reason, which submits to the power of faith. Because Catholicism has the power of both, we are able to trust in that which God reveals to us, and then verify it through the evidence provided to us by our human intellect.

This harmony of faith and reason is how we can be certain of the truth and divine authority of the Catholic Church. A disordered faith, which we call fideism, holds us in the dark and blinds us to the truths of the natural world. A disordered reason, which we call scientism, makes us believe we know more about the natural world than God does. Because these errors are based on a biased and limited view of the world, they keep their adherents in the dark; in Catholicism, we have perfect faith and perfect reason, which promotes curiosity and strengthens our convictions. The greatest figures in the history of the Church were not those who kept their subjects in the dark; rather, they were intelligent and holy individuals who gave us the tools to question the validity of our faith and to defend it in the face of falsehood. There is probably not a single theologian in the history of the Church who embodies the marriage between faith and reason better than the great Saint Thomas Aquinas. He literally wrote the book on Catholic theology, called the Summa Theologica, which not only lists those core doctrines of the Church, but also explains them, offers strong arguments against them, and rebuts those objections.

The Church, the community of all believers, is built up by those who rely on and put their faith in God. Most of us are not trained theologians, and we do not have to be; our faith in the words of Christ are enough to convince us of the Truth. But the structure of the Church is fortified by the power of those who work on defending the intellectual side of our faith. Like Aquinas, these are the ones who make sure we are trying to answer the question “why?” in a sincere way. The harmony of faith and reason is why the Church will be able to weather the abuse we face by those who consider the faithful unintelligent or superstitious. We are grateful for the power of faith, while at the same time grateful for those in our Church who are defending the power of reason that enables all Catholics to be defenders of the Truth.

Life can be incredibly lonely at times. We will never fully realize what it means to truly love another person until we are convinced and satisfied with the perfect love that God gives to us. However, before being fully satisfied with His love, it can be very lonely to understand that no human being will ever love you with the same intensity and loyalty that God will. Humans are unjust and selfish, which means that we often seek out love from those who will not give it to us or we do not love those who need it from us the most. Truly, God is the only one who will love you no matter what, with full intensity and an unceasing desire for you. But occasionally, we encounter people in our lives who are willing to go out of their way to give themselves completely to us. Occasionally, we find real love in other people. This is not a human emotion or a human capability; it is a reflection of the divinity that God instilled within us when He created us.

A perfect way of understanding the perfection of divine love, and the reflection of it in human relationships, can be found in this passage from the second letter to Timothy. Paul writes this heartbreaking letter to explain some of the rejection he has experienced in his travels. A disciple named Demas fell back into the temptations of the world and abandoned him. Another disciple named Crescens left Paul to go to Galatia, and Titus, who was particularly close with Paul, left to go to Dalmatia. Paul’s deeply personal letter to Timothy does not read like a typical epistle we usually read at Mass; instead, it reads like something very familiar. In all sincerity, it sounds like Paul is lonely from abandonment. He finishes the letter, though, with a point that we should all remind ourselves whenever we feel lonely: people will abandon and desert us, but may that not be held against them, because the Lord is all we need. The love of the Lord was all Paul needed to continue his missionary work. But there is a particularly interesting detail in this letter of loneliness - only one man stayed by Paul’s side. St. Luke is described as the only one remaining with Paul. Luke is an especially crucial figure to our understanding of Paul; not only was Luke one of the four evangelists, but he also wrote the Acts of the Apostles, which is essentially the story of Paul’s missionary work. We only know Paul as well as we do because of Luke. Luke loved him. He was loyal to him. In fact, he was the only one to remain by his side. Whether Paul acknowledged and appreciated Luke’s love or not, Luke reflected the love of the Lord to Paul and expected nothing in return. 

In the Gospel, Jesus tells those who are named disciples that the harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few. All of us are worthy of being loved and honored by other human beings, but some of us may have to suffer through long bouts of loneliness and solitude when others simply are not willing to put in the work to be by our side. This is an opportunity for us to be satisfied with the love of God alone, however difficult that may be. Perhaps one day, though, we may find someone who is willing to stay by our side, to not abandon us, and to give of themselves simply out of love for us. Even Christ had very few of these people in his own life. Paul at least had Luke. We have God. Although God’s love is perfect and total, we should be greatly appreciative that there are human beings out there who desire to reflect the love of God towards us. This is the perfection of human participation in the created world. 

The Ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus is best known for his dramatic trilogy, the Oresteia, which follows the story of the death of king Agamemnon and the vengeance his son Orestes pursues. These three tragedies were fundamental to Greek culture, and continue to be studied and performed today. When we consider the time that Jesus lived on earth and when the Church began, we realize just how significant the cultures in which he grew up allowed Christianity to flourish. He was from Judaism and retained all of the culture and theology that came from his own people. He lived under Roman rule, which was marked by conquest and military prowess. But the culture of his time and the time of his Apostles was profoundly Greek - everyone spoke Greek, paganism was widespread, and the only arts that had any influence on the world stage at the time were that of the ancient Greeks, such as the Oresteia. 

Our understanding of the Greek and pagan influence on early Christianity is best captured in the writings of St. Paul. Paul traveled throughout the known world at the time, spreading the Gospel and serving Christ; this meant going to the pagans and even going to Greece, where much of his work was done converting the birthplace of international pagan culture. Paul might have been familiar with the work of Aeschylus, with the story of the death of Agamemnon, and with the story of Orestes’ vengeance in the second play of the trilogy, “The Libation Bearers.” Ironically, in the writings of Paul, especially in this passage from his second letter to Timothy, we see the great difference between Greek paganism and Christianity: Paul sees himself as being poured out as a libation. Just like Orestes, Paul’s own king was killed unjustly. But unlike Orestes, Paul went to those who killed him and did not seek vengeance. Instead, he wanted to share the goodness and forgiveness that he himself experienced through the mercy of Christ so that those responsible for his death would be forgiven just the same. His reward for this was to be put to death just as his Lord was. In this second letter to Timothy, he feels no bitterness or desire for vengeance like Orestes. He knows he did what he could to spread the message of Christ to the pagan world. He knows he finished the race and competed well. He was rejected by his own, just like Christ, though he never held it against them. In paganism and in his own participation in persecuting followers of Christ, Paul was very much of this world. In Christianity, Paul knew mercy and became merciful himself. This was not something he could find in humanity, but only in God through His Son. 

Do you want to be a follower of Christ? Do not listen to the voices of society, who elevate vengeance to the same level as justice. They have been doing so since at least the time of Aeschylus and Orestes. Instead, enact true justice in the name of God, then go beyond that. Be merciful. As we hear in the Gospel, those with a warped understanding of justice will assume that they are virtuous. But if you are merciful like the humble tax collector, you not only show mercy but you are also assured that you have perfected justice. The culture that led to the death of our Lord was humbled, and his Gospel was exalted. Remember the story of Paul. Show mercy, work hard, finish the race, and compete well. Do all of this with humility, and you will be exalted before God when your time comes.