🗓️Feb 06St. Titus, bishop and confessor

St. Titus, born in the 1st century into a Gentile family, converted to Christianity and became one of the most faithful disciples and collaborators of St. Paul the Apostle. He accompanied him on fundamental missionary journeys and to the Council of Jerusalem, serving as a living witness to the freedom of the Gentiles from the Mosaic Law. Consecrated as the first Bishop of Crete by the Apostle of the Gentiles, he received the arduous mission of organizing the Church on that island, where, with indefatigable zeal and doctrinal firmness, he ordained presbyters, corrected moral and theological deviations, and structured the Christian community amidst a people of difficult temperament. His life was a reflection of the Pauline exhortation to sound doctrine and good works, acting as a peacemaker and a pillar of the apostolic faith until his death, which occurred in holiness around the year 96 AD, being venerated by the Church as a model of a pastor who unites missionary charity with hierarchical discipline.

📜 Introit (Sir 45:30; Ps 131:1)

Státuit ei Dóminus testaméntum pacis, et príncipem fecit eum: ut sit illi sacerdótii dígnitas in ætérnum. Ps. Meménto, Dómine, David: et omnis mansuetúdinis ejus.

The Lord made to him a covenant of peace, and made him a prince: that the dignity of priesthood should be to him for ever. Ps. O Lord, remember David: and all his meekness.

✉️ Epistle (Sir 44:16-27; 45:3-20)

Ecce sacérdos magnus, qui in diébus suis plácuit Deo, et invéntus est justus: et in témpore iracúndiæ factus est reconciliátio. Non est invéntus símilis illi, qui conservávit legem Excélsi. Ideo jurejurándo fecit illum Dóminus créscere in plebem suam. Benedictiónem ómnium géntium dedit illi, et testaméntum suum confirmávit super caput ejus. Agnóvit eum in benedictiónibus suis: conservávit illi misericórdiam suam: et invénit grátiam coram óculis Dómini. Magnificávit eum in conspéctu regum: et dedit illi corónam glóriæ. Státuit illi testaméntum ætérnum, et dedit illi sacerdótium magnum: et beatificávit illum in glória. Fungi sacerdótio, et habére laudem in nómine ipsíus, et offérre illi incénsum dignum in odórem suavitátis.

Behold the great priest, who in his days pleased God, and was found just: and in the time of wrath he was made a reconciliation. There was not found the like to him, who kept the law of the Most High. Therefore by an oath the Lord made him to increase among his people. He gave him the blessing of all nations, and confirmed His covenant upon his head. He acknowledged him in His blessings: he preserved for him His mercy: and he found grace before the eyes of the Lord. He magnified him in the sight of kings: and gave him a crown of glory. He made an everlasting covenant with him, and gave him a great priesthood: and made him blessed in glory. To perform the priestly office, and to have praise in His name, and to offer Him a worthy incense for an odor of sweetness.

✠ Gospel (Lk 10:1-9)

In illo témpore: Designávit Dóminus et álios septuagínta duos: et misit illos binos ante fáciem suam in omnem civitátem et locum, quo erat ipse ventúrus. Et dicebat illis: Messis quidem multa, operárii autem pauci. Rogáte ergo Dóminum messis, ut mittat operários in messem suam. Ite: ecce, ego mitto vos sicut agnos inter lupos. Nolíte portáre sǽculum neque peram neque calceaménta; et néminem per viam salutavéritis. In quamcúmque domum intravéritis, primum dícite: Pax huic dómui: et si ibi fúerit fílius pacis, requiéscet super illum pax vestra: sin autem, ad vos revertátur. In eádem autem domo manéte, edéntes et bibéntes quæ apud illos sunt: dignus est enim operárius mercéde sua. Nolíte transíre de domo in domum. Et in quamcúmque civitátem intravéritis, et suscéperint vos, manducáte quæ apponúntur vobis: et curáte infírmos, qui in illa sunt, et dícite illis: Appropinquávit in vos regnum Dei.

At that time, the Lord appointed also other seventy-two: and sent them two and two before His face into every city and place whither He Himself was to come. And He said to them: The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He send laborers into His harvest. Go: behold I send you as lambs among wolves. Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes; and salute no man by the way. Into whatsoever house you enter, first say: Peace be to this house. And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon him; but if not, it shall return to you. And in the same house, remain, eating and drinking such things as they have: for the laborer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house. And into what city soever you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you. And heal the sick that are therein, and say to them: The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.

⛪ The mission of the bishop as peacemaker and organizer of the harvest

The liturgy of this feast intertwines the hierarchical dignity exalted in the Book of Ecclesiasticus with the missionary urgency of the Gospel of St. Luke, finding in St. Titus the perfect synthesis between the organizer and the evangelizer who structures the nascent Church. The Introit and the Epistle proclaim the "covenant of peace" and the "great priesthood," reminding us that the episcopal authority conferred upon Titus is not a privilege of honor, but a divine election to "keep the law of the Most High" and offer the incense of prayer; Titus, left in Crete by St. Paul to "set in order the things that were wanting," embodies this Great Priest who guarantees the continuity of grace through apostolic succession. In the Gospel, the sending of the seventy-two disciples prefigures the expansion of the pastoral ministry, where these laborers are sent out as "lambs among wolves" - a vivid image for the mission in Crete, whose inhabitants were known for their harshness -, armed only with the proclamation of Peace. St. Augustine, commenting on pastors, warns that "those who feed Christ's sheep as if they were their own, and not Christ's, love themselves," teaching that the true bishop, like Titus, despises "purse and scrip" (earthly interests) to focus solely on the cure of souls and the proclamation of the Kingdom. Christ's command that peace should "rest" upon the house reflects the theology of grace: pastoral peace only bears fruit where there is a predisposition for the truth, and Titus's mission was precisely to prepare these "houses" (the domestic and local churches) to receive the fullness of doctrine, acting as the visible foundation of unity, as the Magisterium teaches regarding the episcopal office of sanctifying and governing the People of God.