Saints Timothy and Titus, Bishops

The litugical calendar, on rare occassion, pairs saints that were closely related and combines their memorials like we see today with Timothy and Titus. Another well known example of this is Saints Cyril and Methodius, more commonly associated with the Eastern Rite churches. In order that this doesn’t become a doctoral dissertation on two great saints, I’m going to focus today on Saint Titus. He’s probably the lesser known of the two, but the real reason I want to write about him is a portion of his biography that jumped out at me as I was preparing for morning prayers today.

Saint Titus (for whom one of Saint Paul’s epistles is named) had a tough job. He was converted by Saint Paul and became one of Paul’s chosen companions in his journeys. One of Titus’ more unenviable tasks was to deliver a letter to the Christians in Corinth. This wasn’t just any letter, however. It was Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. In this letter, he calls them to task in no uncertain terms for not adhering to their faith. Titus had to deliver this rebuke and bring the people back in conformity with Church teaching, but he had to do so while displaying the great virue of Christian charity. He succeeded in this task and was eventually named bishop of Crete.

We can all take a lesson from Saint Titus’ example. All of us know people who lay claim to the name of Christian, but are not living in accord with the teachings of Jesus. It may not make us popular, but we are called to correct these people. Like Titus, however, we must do this with charity. Berating people will not bring them to the conversion that is needed. This task is actually even more difficult these days with all the divisions present within Christianity. Who gets to define what is orthodox Christianity and what isn’t? I have an answer for this, but in the interest of time I’ll save that for another post. For now, let us pray:

Almighty God,

you endowed Saint Timothy and Saint Titus with power to preach your word.

Grant that, living a life of integrity and holiness in this world,

  we may, through their prayers, come to our true home in heaven.

[We make our prayer] through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

  who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

  God for ever and ever.

Amen.