Homily from Deacon Dave Etters
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In this powerful reflection, Deacon Dave reminds us that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control. Drawing inspiration from St. Paul’s letter to Timothy, he encourages us to rekindle the flame of faith within our hearts, to live courageously in the face of uncertainty, and to trust that God has called each of us to set the world on fire with His love.
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Deacon Dave:
You look through the Old Testament, you’ll find a number of occasions where we hear these words: “Fear not, for I am the Lord your God.” There are many causes and reasons for one to have fear. We need only to look to Minneapolis or Utah or Grand Blanc this past week to realize there is a lot of tension and fear in our people, in our country. We could fear a business failing. We could fear our family falling apart. We could fear a lot of things in this world. Even Jesus in his human nature trembled in fear in the garden. Hematidosis — the blood and sweat dropped from his face, knowing the suffering that he would endure.
The second letter to Timothy, our reading is from that second letter of Paul. St. Paul wrote to Timothy, who was his disciple. He was a companion of Paul on many of his travels, and he was also given the honor of being a co-author to several of Paul’s letters in the New Testament.
What we need to understand about this letter is that the Apostle Paul was speaking from his heart to his beloved son in the faith, as he called him — “my child, my son in the faith.” And he was writing to him to give him deep encouragement because he had somewhat fallen off a bit.
In the first, the previous letter to Timothy, we see the Apostle saying to him, “Do not let them despise you because of your youth.” And then in today’s message, he is saying, “God has not given us a spirit of cowardice. And don’t be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord.”
Now what is somewhat puzzling about this is that Timothy was a man of power and faith. He was installed by the imposition of the Apostle Paul’s hands as bishop, the first bishop of the Church at Ephesus. And here he is wrestling with fear. I don’t think any of us are immune from this. But we have a remedy.
And that remedy is laid out very clearly: Stir up the flame of God’s gift in your life, Timothy. Stir up the flame. Literally it is “blow up the smoldering fire of your heart, your life.” Give yourself to God. God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but a spirit of power and love and self-control.
Here the word power does not refer to performing miracles. It is the power to overcome all obstacles and to face all dangers in life. And love — the power of love working in our lives — agape, the love that’s a sacrificial love that transcends and persists regardless of the circumstances we find ourselves in.
And self-control, which could probably, as many commentators have suggested, be better translated as sobriety or soundness of mind — the ability for us to have composure of mind and soul in the midst of adversity or in prosperity.
We have a calling by God, and St. Catherine of Siena said it so beautifully: “Be who you were created to be, and you will set the world on fire.” We were created, knit together in our mother’s womb, and given physical life — the breath of the soul into our being — and yet God recreates us by the Holy Spirit, and he gives us great power to live a life that’s different from the world.
And as Chesterton said, “Only living things swim upstream.” We’ve been given a call and a charge to live that life of power, love, and sobriety.
In 2011, one of my great heroes of the faith, Pope Benedict XVI, said these words to a youth gathering in Madrid:
“Dear friends, may no adversity paralyze you. Be afraid neither of the world, nor of the future, nor of your weakness. The Lord has allowed you to live in this moment of history so that by your faith, his name will continue to resound throughout the world.”
And if I could, I might modify the dismissal today, and I would say it this way: Go in peace. Set the world on fire.
God bless you.