Looking at the second readings from today and last Sunday we can detect that St Paul, writing from prison, senses that Timothy is struggling. As a younger man, looking to lead the churches given him, he was, at least in the mind of his mentor, vulnerable to giving up. St Paul writes to him: "Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made good confession in the presence of many witnesses" (1 Tim 6: 11-12) and "I remind you, Timothy, to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of hands; for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline. (2 Tim 1: 6-7) All of us can be tempted to give up the faith and the struggle for virtue. It is easier to conform ourselves to the world where the precepts of the gospel and the Church, especially on abortion and marriage, are regarded as "extreme." jesus tells us: "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there ar many who take it." (Mtt 7: 13) Like Timothy, who is later to be recognized as a saint by the Church, we need to rekindle the conversion experience and commitment so that we might have the zeal of missionary disciples and thus have the courage to share the joy of the Gospel both in season and out of season.
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