In the epistle reading this morning
that we've just heard, St. Paul writes to St. Timothy. They had known
each other for a while, and St. Timothy was ordained by St. Paul. He
was bishop of Ephesus, and he became a leader in the Church at quite
a young age. In a different letter, in a different place, St. Paul
reminds St. Timothy not to let his youth be a stumbling-block or to
make other people use his youth as an excuse, and this morning St.
Paul reminds St. Timothy of all the things he has learned from his
childhood. So we know that he became a Christian at a young age.
Maybe he was baptized at a young age; we're not sure, but he learned
the things at a young age. He was rooted in the faith from that young
age. He learned it from his mother and his grandmother, as St. Paul
also says, and he remained faithful through that.
So I think there is a lot we can learn
from St. Timothy and from his experience, that he paid attention; he
learned as a child; that St. Paul told him that his youth should not
be held against him. You can take that for yourself, you know. You
are young, but I think you can understand
the doctrines
and grasp the faith, and now is the best time to do it. Now is
the best time to learn who God is, to begin to know God.
As we're here every Sunday, as we pray
together, as you go down to your religious education classes, either
early in the morning or later on, I will ask you to pay attention to
what the prayers say, to what the teachers are teaching, because this
is the best time to take root, to let the faith take root in your
heart, let the faith take root in your soul and in your mind. In some
ways, it's easier to get to know God when you are young, and I hope
that all of you do everything that you
can, and God's grace will work with you, will be with you, to get to
know God now, because
as we all grow up, we find difficulties.
We
find times when we struggle to, at times, to see or to know where God
is, and it is important at those times that we have this strong faith
that is rooted in us from when we are young so that we can remember
God from when we knew
he was close to us, remember Him in those times when it may not feel
like He is close to us. He is
there, but all of us in life will have times when, for one reason or
another, we won't be able to feel His presence. So let's do the best
that we can now, in prayer and in studying, so that our faith truly
defines who we are, that we get to know God so that we have something
to look upon in the difficult times that we all find some way or
another.
And
let us ask for the help of St. Paul and St. Timothy, because they
live the faith. And what did we read in St. Paul's letter? What was
Timothy supposed to remember? He was supposed to remember St. Paul's
faith, his example, his suffering, his difficulties. So even the
greatest of saints like St. Paul went through difficult times, and we
should remember that, that life is not always going to be easy, but
God is always with us, even in those times when we're not aware of
it. So let us pray that God strengthen our faith and that He be firmly in our
minds, our hearts, and our
souls. Let us ask for the help of St. Timothy and St. Paul, and
together with them and with all the saints, both when it is easy and
when it is not, when we know that God is here and when we don't feel
His presence, in all times and in all places, give glory to God:
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
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