September 18, 2022

Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle C

Amos 8:4-7; 1 Timothy 2:1-8; Luke 16:1-13

I’ve decided to stay on a theme that I started a few weeks ago with my last homily. If you were out of town on that Labor Day weekend, I can quickly summarize. Saint Paul wrote his shortest letter that we still have and his only personal letter to one of his converts named Philemon, asking him to free of one of his runaway slaves by the name of Onesimus. It is a compelling narrative of the real life moral decisions that are faced in life that one might not understand just listening to a short passage during the Mass reading.

Well, today we have another of Saint Paul’s letters that has an interesting backstory, one that helps bring out the message of both Paul’s letter as well as the Gospel. It is addressed to Timothy, but in actuality it is to both him and his entire congregation about how the church should be led and regulated. It has the earliest Church teachings about the qualifications for roles of bishop and deacon, as well as many guidelines on Christian living for people of all situations – wives, husbands, widows, priests, slaves, and so on. For this reason, this letter as well as a second letter also sent to Timothy and another letter sent to Titus at Crete are called the Pastoral Letters – Paul in his old age is giving advice to the next generation of church leaders and Christian disciples.

Timothy was an important colleague to Paul throughout his ministry. He was a convert of Paul as well as his companion for his second and third missionary trips around the Eastern Mediterranean, which are documented in the Pauline epistles and in the Acts of the Apostles. Paul sent Timothy as his emissary several times to straighten out problems in some of the early churches – these congregations had fallen into disagreements about various matters after Paul continued his evangelization to other regions. At the time of this letter, Timothy was the administrator of the whole area around Ephesus, maybe somewhat akin to what we would today call an archbishop, although Paul does not use that term because it had not been established at the time. So the words we hear today from Paul to his successor as leader are to be understood as important teachings about how both leaders and followers should conduct themselves so as to be true disciples, part of Christ’s Body his Church. They are the words of a mature apostle, nearing his death in Rome after thirty years of apostleship, conveying the wisdom that he has learned to those who would listen.

And so, here we are today, listening in the second reading to that wisdom. The passage taken for today’s reading is from a section dedicated to prayer life and the conduct of liturgical services in the early Christian churches. What did we hear? The crux of the passage I think is summed up in the final line from today’s reading: “It is my wish, then, that in every place the men should pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger or argument” [1 Tim 2:8 NAB]. Now there is a lot packed into that sentence, but there is one thing that I’d like to stress.

When Paul says “men,” he is not using men in the sense of mankind or all Christians. This is clear because he will address women in the verses just after this passage from the second chapter of First Timothy. He is asking males specifically one thing – to pray publicly. Now, I don’t have any actual data, but my experience is that at most events here at Saint James, the ratio of women to men at events involving prayer is about two to one. It is true at Mass, which for a Catholic is obligatory, and it is even more true at other services that are optional, such as Holy Hour, rosaries, and adult education opportunities. Why is this?

Patrick Marley, David Delk, and Brett Clemmer in their book No Man Left Behind [Moody Publishers, 2006, p. 31-32] developed a theory to explain this phenomenon that is seen in all Christian churches. They believe that men have an inborn need to succeed, and therefore want to do things that have tangible results. Of course praying is doing something, but many men don’t see the immediate impact of their effort and therefore don’t consider that they have accomplished much – that is, they haven't “won,” and winning is important to men especially. Of course, this is a gross generalization, and as with most efforts to describe many diverse people in one sweeping statement, I’m sure there are many exceptions to what I just said. If you don’t agree with it, that is fine, but how do you explain the statistics that are plain to anyone with two eyes?

Saint Paul in his other letters certainly took men to task to do all the tasks that they have always done and in which gain a sense of accomplishment and success: earning money, taking care of the poor and underprivileged in addition to their families, building and maintaining the infrastructure of the home and the church. Our Knights of Columbus have been exemplary at doing this type of thing, and over the years have raised tens of thousands of dollars for Saint James and other local charities, as well as helping out at parish functions and funerals. But what Paul is saying here, in today’s reading, is that when it comes to public worship, men – all men, not just Knights – need to lead by showing their families, their neighbors, and their communities that they lift their hands and pray publicly because it is necessary and proper. The Gospel echoes this, since when we opt out of more spiritual or religious activities, we are serving mammon and not God. We can’t do the will of God until we pray and contemplate his teachings so that we know what God would have us do.

I don’t often give this type of homily, for the simple reason that the people I really need to be speaking to are the ones that aren’t here, that don’t come to Mass at all or do so infrequently. However, I would still challenge the men here now to look to see if we have developed our spirituality as well as we should and are truly a disciple of Christ in every facet of their lives. Father Oscar and several men from Saint James are spearheading an effort to build a team of men that will take on the task of building up the spiritual life of our community, and get men more engaged in liturgy, bible study, faith sharing, retreats, and other activities that build our support network for encouraging our parish mission, the making of disciples, both new ones as well as improved ones as we grow in faith. I know we have some Timothys, right here and right now, in our congregation, ones that will take up Paul’s missionary challenge to bring the Gospel to the world starting here in our own community.

As we continue with our Mass, let our reception of our Lord in the Eucharist fill us with the grace to help us identify ways that we should be drawing closer to God spiritually. Let us pray for all men, that they might see the value in leadership in worship as well as works. May all of us, men and women, along with our families, raise our holy hands in prayer for the many blessings that God has bestowed upon us.