🕯️St. Timothy, the "dearly beloved son" and favorite disciple of the Apostle Paul, was born in Lystra, in Asia Minor, the fruit of the union between Eunice, a converted Jewess, and a Greek father, receiving from childhood a solid instruction in the Sacred Scriptures that would mold his character and vocation. Becoming an inseparable collaborator of St. Paul in his early youth, he accompanied him on arduous missionary journeys, serving as his coadjutor, scribe, and trusted messenger, being even the recipient of two fundamental pastoral epistles of the New Testament that delineate the virtues of the episcopal ministry. Consecrated first bishop of Ephesus by the Apostle of the Gentiles himself, Timothy governed that Church with pastoral zeal, combating heresies and maintaining the purity of doctrine, until, according to ancient tradition, he reached the crown of martyrdom around the year 97 A.D., when, at eighty years old, he was brutally stoned and beaten by enraged pagans while trying to stop an idolatrous procession in honor of the goddess Diana, sealing with his own blood the "good confession" of faith that Paul had exhorted him to guard.
🛐Introit (Ecclus 45, 30 | Ps 131, 1)
Statuit ei Dominus testamentum pacis, et principem fecit eum: ut sit illi sacerdotii dignitas in aeternum. Ps. Memento Domine, David: et omnis mansuetudinus ejus.
The Lord made a covenant of peace with him, making him a prince: that the dignity of priesthood should be his for ever. Ps. O Lord, remember David: and all his meekness. ℣. Glory be to the Father.
📜Epistle (I Tim 6, 11-16)
Caríssime: Sectáre justítiam, pietátem, fidem, caritátem, patiéntiam, mansuetúdinem. Certa bonum certámen fídei, apprehénde vitam ætérnam, in qua vocátus es, et conféssus bonam confessionem coram multis téstibus. Præcípio tibi coram Deo, qui vivíficat ómnia, et Christo Jesu, qui testimónium réddidit sub Póntio Piláto, bonam confessiónem: ut serves mandátum sine mácula, irreprehensíbile usque in advéntum Dómini nostri Jesu Christi, quem suis tempóribus osténdet beátus et solus potens, Rex regum et Dóminus dominántium: qui solus habet immortalitátem, et lucem inhábitat inaccessíbilem: quem nullus hóminum vidit, sed nec vidére potest: cui honor et impérium sempitérnum. Amen.
Dearly beloved: Follow after justice, godliness, faith, charity, patience, mildness. Fight the good fight of faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called, and hast confessed a good confession before many witnesses. I charge thee before God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who gave testimony under Pontius Pilate, a good confession: that thou keep the commandment without spot, blameless, unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in his times he shall show who is the Blessed and only Mighty, the King of kings, and Lord of lords: who only hath immortality, and inhabiteth light inaccessible: whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and empire everlasting. Amen.
✠Gospel (Lk 14, 26-33)
In illo témpore: Dixit Jesus turbis: Si quis venit ad me, et non odit patrem suum, et matrem, et uxórem, et fílios, et fratres, et soróres, adhuc autem et ánimam suam, non potest meus esse discípulus. Et qui non bájulat crucem suam, et venit post me, non potest meus esse discípulus. Quis enim ex vobis volens turrim ædificáre, non prius sedens cómputat sumptus, qui necessárii sunt, si hábeat ad perficiéndum; ne, posteáquam posúerit fundaméntum, et non potúerit perfícere, omnes, qui vident, incípiant illúdere ei, dicéntes: Quia hic homo cœpit ædificáre, et non pótuit consummáre? Aut quis rex iturus commíttere bellum advérsus álium regem, non sedens prius cógitat, si possit cum decem mílibus occúrrere ei, qui cum vigínti mílibus venit ad se? Alióquin, adhuc illo longe agénte, legatiónem mittens, rogat ea, quæ pacis sunt. Sic ergo omnis ex vobis, qui non renúntiat ómnibus, quæ póssidet, non potest meus esse discípulus.
At that time, Jesus said to the multitudes: If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not carry his cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple. For which of you having a mind to build a tower, doth not first sit down, and reckon the charges that are necessary, whether he have wherewithal to finish it: lest, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that see it begin to mock him, saying: This man began to build, and was not able to finish? Or what king, about to go to make war against another king, doth not first sit down, and think whether he be able, with ten thousand, to meet him that, with twenty thousand, cometh against him? Or else, whilst the other is yet afar off, sending an embassy, he desireth conditions of peace. So likewise every one of you that doth not renounce all that he possesseth, cannot be my disciple.
⚔️The cost of fidelity and the good fight of faith
💎The Pauline exhortation directed to Timothy to fight the "good fight of faith" finds its full realization in the radical requirement of today's Gospel, where Christ establishes the unnegotiable conditions for discipleship: absolute renunciation and willingness for sacrifice. When the Lord speaks of "hating" father and mother, He does not prescribe malevolence, but, as St. Augustine teaches, orders that earthly affections do not become obstacles to divine love; we must love relatives in what is human about them, but reject carnal ties if they prevent us from following God, for "he that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me" (Sermon on the Gospel). St. Timothy embodied this doctrine by leaving his homeland and family to follow Paul and, later, by facing death in Ephesus. The parable of the unfinished tower and the king who goes to war illustrates the need for prudence and spiritual calculation: the Christian life is a high construction and a dangerous battle against spiritual powers; whoever does not calculate the cost - which is one's own life and the renunciation of all that he possesses - risks becoming a mockery for the demons. The martyr is the one who, having calculated the price, realized that the "inaccessible light" mentioned in the Epistle is worth infinitely more than any temporal good, accepting to lose his life in this world to gain it in eternity, thus fulfilling the mandate to keep the faith "without spot and blameless" until the end.
See English version of the critical articles here.
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