Poor Saint Paul! When you read the scriptures for mass today, from the second Letter of Saint Paul to Timothy, you just can’t help but feel sorry for Paul. He sounds so normal that you could almost forget he is a saint when you read his words today. Bless his heart. He writes that Demas became a little too fond of worldly things and deserted him, and then Crescens and Titus also left him.
Paul seems a little sad about the fact that Luke is the only one with him. He probably didn’t realize at the time how fortunate he was to have Saint Luke with him. Today is the feast of Saint Luke by the way. It’s pretty awesome to hear Paul talk about Luke in the normal course of a conversation with Timothy. The whole reading is a little tiny glimpse into Saint Paul’s personal thoughts. It is a shame he didn’t tell us more about Saint Luke though.
Saint Paul told Timothy to get Mark and bring him back with him. That would have been three saints in the same place together at the same time. However, Paul, Luke and Mark probably would not have thought themselves saints at the time. Sometimes people in modern times also live lives of holiness in the middle of all the ordinary events of daily life too, without realizing their own holiness. Sometimes it is only after their passing, that their loved ones, friends and acquaintances become aware of how much this person meant to them. What a gift it would be if we could value one another more, during our lives. We should show those we love more attention while we can and not wait until it is too late one day.
Saint Paul asked for a cloak, the papyrus rolls and parchments. He obviously intended to do some more writing and it must have been getting a little cold there. And he was aggravated at the coppersmith who did him a great deal of harm. Paul warned Timothy about him and that he strongly resisted their preaching. Life wasn’t especially easy for Saint Paul and he sounds so down to earth and human in today’s reading. He also seems a little lonely because everyone deserted him, but said it was ok because the Lord stood by him and gave him strength.
As lay people, we look up to our priests and pastors and the leaders of our church, but we can fail to recognize just how human they are as well. Sometimes we put our priests and leaders up on such a pedestal that we fail to realize their need for companionship and support too. Jesus did not overlook their personal needs, when he sent his disciples out in pairs to the nearby towns in today’s gospel reading though. We should pay attention to how he took care of the disciples themselves. He didn’t let them take anything with them because they could travel faster and easier with less things to carry. They also would not be as much of a target for robbers and thieves either. He warned the disciples about the negative people they might encounter on their journey. Jesus told them that they shouldn’t take on other people’s negativity or let it take away their peace of soul though.
He also told the disciples to stay in the same house when they visited a town and eat and drink whatever they were offered. Jesus may have told his disciples this, so they would stay in the same place long enough to form bonds of friendship with the people they stayed with. If they moved from house to house, that is not enough time to form friendships. The disciples are saints but also very human. It is a shame that our parish priests are moved around as often as they are for this reason too. It is good for the parishioners to hear different priest’s viewpoints, but it must be hard to leave the friendships that they have formed within their parish community.
The thought for today might be to pay a little more attention to those close to us, because we do not know how much time we may have with them. But, another thought might be to care about our priests too. Invite them to dinner, or a party, or to play golf or include them in our lives a little more, even if it is just sending Christmas, Easter and birthday cards or telling them that you pray for them. There have been cases of priests that have suffered serious depression and even committed suicide and no one knew they were feeling that sad or isolated. We should try and remember that our priests are just as human as we are and they have a need for companionship just like we do. They are here to serve us, but it wouldn’t hurt to serve them a little bit too, like the families the disciples stayed with in today’s gospel.
Daily Mass Readings:
2 Tm 4: 10-17 / Ps 145: 10-13, 17-18 / Lk 10: 1-9
