Titus – The Noontimes

Ezekiel 18: Graciousness . . . Always

Ezekiel 28: Graciousness . . . Always

Monday, November 18, 2024

return_of_the_prodigal_son[1] — *Rembrandt: Return of the Prodigal Son*

Paraphrasing from LA BIBLIA DE AMÉRICA footnotes (899): The center of the accusation here against this king is that despite his wisdom and intelligence, he has forgotten that he is subordinate to supreme wisdom and the king of the universe. For this – and for his insolent attitude – he will be punished severely. This develops into a lament which describes the king, his splendor, his guilt, and his punishment. The king who represents Tyre will end his days in the abyss.

Perhaps the most important message we can take away today is this: No matter our apparent security, we must remain humble and we must remain grateful. The New Testament tells us something further: No matter how correct we are in the position we take, we must remain respectful, and we must remain open to the possibility of the enemy’s transformation. Jesus tells the story of the Prodigal Son and each time we hear it we realize anew how gracious is the forgiving father. How generous and how gracious is our God. We have never sinned too greatly; we have never wandered too far for our grateful and generous father to run to greet us and welcome us home. God is gracious . . . always; but it is only through our own humility that we will find the great joy that the father offers.

Today’s first Mass reading from Paul’s letter to Titus (3) reminds us of the proper place and the attitude we will want to maintain as we do God’s work. He reminds us to be under the control of magistrates and authorities, to be obedient, to be open to every good enterprise. [We] are to slander no one, to be peaceable, considerate, exercising all graciousness toward everyone. For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, deluded, slaves to various desires and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful ourselves and hating one another. But when the kindness and generous love of God our savior appeared, not because of any righteous deeds we had done but because of his mercy, he saved us through the bath of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit . . .

As we meet corruption and misuse of power, let us be grateful always, humble always, slandering no one. Let us be considerate always, and let us exercise graciousness . . . always.

To reflect a bit more on the Gospel Parables and God’s Graciousness click on the image above or go to: http://www.goodnews.ie/graciousness.shtml

LA BIBLIA DE LA AMÉRICA. 8th. Madrid: La Casa de la Biblia, 1994. Print.

Written on November 10, 2010, re-written and posted today as a Favorite.

For more on Tyre, read the Discourse post on the blog by entering the word into the search bar and exploring.

November 18, 2024

consideration, Gospel Parables, gracious, humiliyu, slander, speak truth to power, Titus

Titus: Slaves for Christ

Titus: Slaves for Christ

Saturday, February 16, 2019

Today’s Noontime offering is a personal reflection on Paul’s Letter to Titus, a brief epistle in which we find valuable advice on bringing disparate voices together. It was this letter that united many in the formation of churches for Christ in the first century. If we savor the wisdom we find here, we may still find unity through this short letter two thousand years after its writing.

Christ_Cleansing_The_Temple_sm[1] — *El Greco: Christ Cleansing the Temple*

Paul speaks of rebuking fellow Christians and I believe that when Jesus cleared the temple of the money changers (Matthew 21, Mark 11 and John 2) he was acting in this way of rebuking those who refuse to hear. Jesus extends that advice to his apostles whom he sends like sheep among wolves in Matthew 10, Mark 6 and Luke 9 when he says that when they enter a town where the people do not return the peace they are offered, these disciples are to shake the very dust of the town from their feet. We also hear Jesus lament the fact that he is rejected by his hometown of Capernaum in Matthew 11 and in Luke 10 he laments the lack of faith displayed by the inhabitants Bethsaida and Chorazin, saying that the Sodomites will fare better than these people in God’s eye. Scary stuff . . . and for this reason I am reluctant to separate myself from those who demonstrate a lack of faith . . . with me, hope dies slowly.

And so we pray that our acts of hope and our endless intercessory prayers for these reluctant travelers will reach God’s ears. We must constantly communicate with God – and always with a smile – that a plan that does not allow for the conversion of sinners will be a plan with holes in it. We must be as persistent as the widow in Luke 18 who rails against the unfair judge when it comes to those who distort God’s love in a perverse homage to self rather than to the will of God. We understand that we must keep ourselves safe from this kind of corruption . . . but we do not give up . . . we continue to ask for transformation . . . our own as well as that of those who choose to do harm to us, ourselves and others. We cannot abandon someone with whom we have spent a portion of our journey . . . even though that person demonstrates clearly that they wish to take a fork in the road that puts distance between us. So these people we will continue to hold in prayer . . . in the expectation that God’s will – and not ours – be done.

parableofthepersistentwidow[1] — *The Persistent Widow*

How do we maintain this kind of dichotomy? We turn back to Paul who offers Titus . . . and us . . . the solution. He says that we are to tell the people that . . . They are to slander no one, to be peaceable, considerate, exercising all graciousness toward everyone. For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, deluded, slaves to various desires and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful of ourselves and hating one another. Eventually we will all put aside this hateful world to choose the peaceable kingdom which God offers so patiently each day.

Like Paul, let us all be slaves to Christ, slaves to this Law of Love which keeps vigil, which hopes for good, and which sends endless petitions rising to God like incense for the transformation of the world, the transformation of others as well as for ourselves . . . that we all may one day find union with one another and with Christ.

Images from: http://www.journeywithjesus.net/Essays/20060313JJ.shtml and http://www.free-stories.net/children-bible-stories/new-testament-stories/parable-of-the-persistent-widow.html

For more on Paul’s Letter to Titus, see the Titus – Church as Community page on this blog.

For a wonderful way to experience the cities Jesus and Paul knew, visit: www.bibleplaces.com

A re-post from February 16, 2019.

February 16, 2019

hope, John 2, Law of Love, Luke 9 & 18, Mark 6 & 11, Matthew 10& 21, Paul, persistence, persistent widow, rebuke, Titus

Titus 2:1 to 3:7: In Conflict with Reality

Titus 2:1 to 3:7: In Conflict with Reality

Wednesday, February 6, 2019

Titus was one of Paul’s companions during the evangelization of the island of Crete, and Paul left his young follower to administer to the churches they established there. In this letter, Paul encourages Titus and gives him an outline for 1) how to best minister to these new communities, and 2) how to maintain the truths brought to them by Christ in the Gospel story¹. This would have been a huge task for anyone but we can guess that it was particularly tricky for Titus who would find that every action he took and every word he spoke would be in direct conflict with the reality of the times. We might identify with this conflict between doctrines and philosophies we know to be correct, and the accepted practices and activities in our own families, communities and workplaces. We might want to use Paul’s words to Titus as our own manual for Christian behavior.

In a reflection posted on his website for Sunday, February 05, 2012, Fr. Richard Rohr describes living life fully while at the same time accepting reality. In part he writes: “Living and accepting our own reality will not feel very spiritual. It will feel like we are on the edges rather than dealing with the essence. Thus most [human beings] run toward more esoteric and dramatic postures instead of bearing the mystery of God’s suffering and joy inside themselves. But the edges of our lives—fully experienced, suffered, and enjoyed—lead us back to the center and the essence”.

Rohr continues to explain how we must open ourselves in order to allow God to move into us, in order to allow God to act in and through us. He makes his point clear that we do not make our own lives but rather it is our lives that form us . . . once we allow ourselves to suffer in Christ. He writes that as we search for God, God finds us: “We do not find our own center; it finds us. Our own mind will not be able to figure it out. Our journeys around and through our realities, or ‘circumferences,’ lead us to the core reality, where we meet both our truest self and our truest God. We do not really know what it means to be human unless we know God. And, in turn, we do not really know God except through our broken and rejoicing humanity”. (Adapted from Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer, pp. 17-19 by Richard Rohr)

As we read Paul’s message to Titus today, we hear the encouraging words that we need as well for as we move through our own reality we will want to know how to find the courage to stand tall against the thinking of the day when we know this thinking is defective. We will want to have the hope that God will convert false realities into kingdom promises. We will want to know where to find the faith and patience we will need, when to act with the love and justice that we will require, and how to work with others in charity . . . even those who put obstacles in our way.

Paul describes for Titus how he might guide others as they transform their own lives and their world. Rohr reminds us that the work is difficult and that we must stand with one foot in the reality of this world and the other in the reality of God’s Kingdom . . . just as Jesus does.

We cannot allow ourselves to be discouraged from this kingdom work for it is the only work that matters. We must rely on God, follow Christ’s model, and live in the Spirit. So let us bear the mystery of God’s suffering and joy inside ourselves . . .for this is the only way we will be successful when we find ourselves in conflict with the reality we see around us.

¹We will want to remember that the prescription for Christian living that Paul sends to Titus was written two thousand years ago when the treatment of women and slaves as possessions was a philosophy woven through the thinking of their times. Slaves were seen as natural possessions of their masters; women were subject to the men in their lives. For more on slavery and Paul, see the Philemon – The Challenge and the Titus – Church as Community pages on this blog.

A re-post from February 6, 2012.

Image from: http://travel.ninemsn.com.au/world/655272/off-the-beach-in-crete

February 6, 2019

accepting reality, Crete, kingdom-building, Paul, Richard Rohr, slavery, Titus, women

Tag: Titus

Ezekiel 18: Graciousness . . . Always

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Titus: Slaves for Christ

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Titus 2:1 to 3:7: In Conflict with Reality

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