17 September 2021
Optional Memorial of Saint Robert Bellarmine, bishop and doctor of the Church
Events described in this morning’s Gospel reveal that Jesus depended on men and women to broadcast the Good News. Such is the same today. Every Christian is called to be a missionary. The more we pray the more we open ourselves to receiving what Jesus taught, what Mary Magdalene and others preached by word, silently expressed or quietly spoken. Prayer also directs us how and to whom we should be missionaries.
In the 1st reading Paul gives young Timothy advice on how to foster those missionary qualities, how to be free to receive the Good News and to pass it on to others, and what Paul says to Timothy pertains to us all. We must be satisfied with the material goods we have because we bring nothing with us when we meet Jesus when we die.
Meanwhile, the devil tries to entrap us into believing we have need for superfluous riches. But, the love of money is the root of all evils while grasping for power and excessive consummation never fulfill what they promise. “But you, man of God, avoid all this,” is Paul’s advice. He then advises his disciple on what to pursue, in order to obtain true freedom, in order to be a missionary.
I’ll read over carefully the advice Paul gives to Timothy and pray to see how it fits into what today’s Gospel tells me about my particular vocation in the Body of Christ.