Homily: Tuesday - 32nd Week in OT - Lives consistent with sound doctrine

Following the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul every year is the feast of his two closest collaborators, Saints Timothy and Titus. Yesterday and today, we’ve read through most of Paul’s letter to Titus, we’d finish it tomorrow, but the normal readings are superseded by those for the feast of the dedication of St. John Lateran tomorrow.

Titus was a gentile convert who came to the faith through the preaching of St. Paul. Titus accompanied Paul to the Council of Jerusalem and Paul sent Titus on the nearly impossible task of bring the division-ridden community of the Corinthians to obedience to the faith. Titus was also to take up a special collection for the poor Christians of Jerusalem.

In the Pastoral Letter to Titus, Paul tasks Titus in making sure that the fledgling community in Crete has strong, mature Christian leaders. In this wonderful letter, we get a glimpse at Paul’s vision for the organization of a Christian community including strong leadership and great vigilance over false teachers and moral error.

Today we heard how the Christian leader is to offer sound moral guidance to the different groups of his community. The Old men, the widows and older women, the young people each are to practice self-control, sobriety. The old are given the special task of being good role models for the young in their speech and behavior.

This weekend, as many of you know, I shared a little bit of the Church’s wisdom, apply sound doctrine to the great moral choice of voting. And I got a little flack over it, which was to be expected, sadly. But the Church has the duty to guide the Christian faithful according to the moral and religious truths of the Gospel. We are to be trained, as the reading said, “to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age.”

Today, we do well to pray for our leaders, leaders of the Church, leaders of government, and that all hearts may be opened to the sound doctrine of the faith. “Love is patient, Love is kind, and love rejoices in the truth.”

The truth of the Gospel is to shape our lives, every dimension of our lives. Jesus gave himself up, as we heard today, “to deliver us from lawlessness”, the lawlessness of moral error, passing fancies, sentimental judgmentalism. May each of us be conformed in our own state of life to the truth of the faith and the heart of Christ for the glory of God and salvation of souls.