Jan 26: Father Callan on Today’s Reading (2 Tim 1:1-8) for the Memorial of Sts Timothy and Titus

2 Tim 1:1-8 is one of two possible first readings which can be used today. Commentary on the other reading, Titus 1:1-5 by Bishop MacEvily can be found here. Father Callan’s commentary on Titus 1:1-5 is here.

1. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, according to the promise of the life, which is in Christ Jesus.
2. To Timothy my beloved son: grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from Christ Jesus our Lord.

1-2. Again, as in the first letter, asserting his Apostolic authority and divine election to preach the Gospel, St. Paul salutes Timothy, his beloved child, whom he has begotten in Christ Jesus.

1. See on 1 Tim 1:1. Father Callan wrote there: Paul an apostle, etc. St. Paul thus asserts his apostolic authority at the beginning of nine of his letters—in all, therefore, except Phil., Phlm., i and 2 Thess., and Heb. This he does in order to give greater weight and solemnity to his words, not only with the faithful and to those to whom he is writing, but also and especially with the false teachers or enemies whom, as in the present Epistle, he is combating.

By the will of God, as in 1 Cor 1:1; Eph 1:1; Col 1:1. St. Paul was not a self-appointed Apostle, but a vessel of divine election. According to the promise, etc., means that the aim and purpose of St. Paul’s election and call to the Apostleship was to proclaim the fulfillment in Christ of the promises of eternal life which were given in the Old Testament.

Grace, mercy, and peace. Grace, God’s special help and favor, is the root and source of our supernatural union with Him and with Christ, and peace is the blessed fruit of that same union.  The word “mercy” is here added to the salutation, as in 1 Tim 1:2, perhaps because the aged Apostle now felt the greater need of this most attractive and conspicuous attribute of God, and also in order to draw attention to the source of “grace” and “peace.”

THE APOSTLE THANKS GOD FOR TIMOTHY’S FAITH, AND EXHORTS THE YOUNG BISHOP TO BE READY TO SUFFER
A Summary of 2 Timothy 1:3-14

St. Paul first thanks the God of his forefathers for Timothy’s faith, asserting his remembrance of him in his prayers and his desire to see his devoted son (ver. 3-5). He then exhorts him to rekindle the grace of his ordination and to be courageous in laboring and suffering for the Gospel, relying on that divine power whereof God has already given us a manifestation in the gratuitous salvation imparted to the world through Christ (ver. 6-10). For his election to preach the Gospel and his faithful discharge of his duty Paul now languishes in prison and faces death, but his faith is undaunted. Let Timothy likewise hold fast to the faith taught him, and be true to his trust (ver. 11-14).

3. I give thanks to God, whom I serve from my forefathers with a pure conscience, as without ceasing I have a remembrance of thee in my prayers, night and day,
4. Desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy,

3-4. St. Paul thanks God for Timothy’s faith (ver. 5), as he remembers him in his prayers every day and every night ; and he is longing to see him, recalling the tears that were shed at their parting.

Whom I serve, etc. The Apostle’s Jewiish opponents had accused him of betraying the religion of his ancestors, but he here asserts that the God whom he serves is the same God that his forefathers adored, and that his service of Him is pure and free from self-interest, unlike their service of that same God of whom they boast.

5. Calling to mind that faith which is in thee unfeigned, which also dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and in thy mother Eunice, and I am certain that in thee also.

It was the recollection of the readiness and generosity with
which Timothy received the faith from his mother and grandmother
that moved St, Paul to give thanks to God (ver. 3).

Unfeigned, i.e., unmixed with error or hypocrisy.

Which also dwelt first, etc., i.e., Lois (most likely the mother of Eunice) and Eunice embraced the faith first, when Paul preached at Lystra (Acts 14:6, 16:1), and under their instruction Timothy readily followed their example. It would seem that Eunice was a widow at the time of Timothy’s circumcision, and this is probably the reason why St. Paul does not make any mention of her husband in his Epistles.

6. For which reason I admonish thee, that thou stir up the grace of God which is in thee, by the imposition of my hands.

For which reason, etc. Having reminded Timothy of the alacrity with which he had received the faith, the aged Apostle now exhorts him to “stir up”—more literally, “kindle to fresh flame” (the word occurs onlv here in the New Testament)—the sacramental “grace of God” which he received when Paul ordained him, and which remains with him still (cf. 1 Tim 4:14). Timothy
was naturally timid and may have been somewhat remiss in the exercise of his sacred powers. But perhaps St. Paul is only anxious that his young disciple will ever be courageous and faithful in spite of difficulties. The Council of Trent (sess. XXIII, cap. 3) cites this verse to prove that Holy Orders is a true Sacrament.

7. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love and of sobriety.

In this verse the Apostle gives the reason why Timothy should rekindle in himself the grace of his ordination; for God has given his chosen Apostles the graces and powers necessary for a faithful and rigorous fulfillment of all their duties, however great the obstacles they may encounter.

Us refers to Paul and Timothy both. St. Paul includes himself so as to soften his words. In giving His Apostles the Holy Ghost, God has endowed them with the spirit (a) of “power,” to discharge all their offices and to encounter all difficulties, (b) of “love,” to endure all things patiently for Christ’s sake, (c) of “sobriety” (better, “wisdom” or “prudence”) in dealing with others, and therefore in the exercise of discipline.

8. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner; but endure your share of suffering for the gospel, according to the power of God;

Timothy must not be ashamed to bear witness to Christ in preaching the Gospel; nor should he be ashamed of his master who is in prison for preaching the Gospel. On the contrary, he must be willing to endure his share of suffering, along with Paul, for the sake of the Gospel, not trusting in his own strength, but in the “power of God,” which will never fail him.

The collabora of the Vulgate does not express the sense of the Greek, which means “suffer with,” i.e., to take one’s share in suffering for the Gospel. The word is found only here and in 2:3 below in the Greek Bible.