RBWords

     This passage from the Letter to Titus usually appears as one of the scriptures at Christmas Midnight Mass!  That alone might cause us to think, "Where have I heard that one before?"  The message can be lost, then, in all the "T'is the season to be jolly"-ness   St. Paul aims at everyday life and good example!  The passage today begins with advising "older men" to be "temperate, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, love, and endurance."  (Lord knows, I try!)  Similarly, older women, younger women and younger men all get their share of attention as well.  The portion quoted above gives the reason for the good example, namely, Jesus himself!

     I live in a university community and most of my semi-retired ministry is with students who are seeking "training" in a particular field that will give them a long term satisfying career.  But what they learn outside the classroom in their undergraduate (maybe graduate, too) years is also very important.  One thing I can assure them is that the "training...to reject Godless ways and worldly desires to live temperately, justly and devoutly in this age..." is a lifelong university!  Older men and women can always learn those lessons, too, and they don't necessarily get any easier.  Christianity is a continuing education experience!  However, the earlier the lessons are taken to heart, the easier they are to review later on and be renewed when the inevitable "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" come.  The result, St. Paul tells us, is an eagerness to do what is good.  The old saying, "God helps those who help themselves!" reminds us of the importance of our own efforts to do that.  AMEN