22 January 2027 · Syro-Malankara Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malabar Rite · Latin Rite · മലയാളം
“Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” 1 Timothy 6:12
Today our Church remembers Mar Timotheos, the young disciple whom Paul called “my loyal child in the faith”. Paul's charge to him is a programme for every Christian: “pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called.” Timothy was timid, often unwell and young for his office, yet he became a shepherd of the church in Ephesus. God's strength is shown in such weakness.
In the Gospel Jesus says: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” The Christian faith does not throw away the Old Testament; it reads it in the light of Christ, as our liturgy does every day. Timothy learned the Scriptures from childhood at the knees of his mother and grandmother, and Paul taught him to see Christ in them. Our families too can be the first school of the word.
Theme: “Fight the good fight of the faith.”
Mar Timotheos: the good fight, Christ's fulfilment, and faith handed on at home.
“Be strong and bold; have no fear or dread of them, because it is the LORD your God who goes with you; he will not fail you or forsake you.”” Deuteronomy 31:6
“Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” 1 Timothy 6:12
Apply: Practise one of Paul's six virtues each day.
“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” Jeremiah 31:33
““Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” Matthew 5:17
Apply: Read one Old Testament reading this week and ask how it points to Christ.
“Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.” Deuteronomy 6:6–7
“I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you.” 2 Timothy 1:5
Apply: Pray with your children or grandchildren tonight.
Timothy fought the good fight in weakness.
Christ fulfils the Scriptures; families hand them on.
Take-home resolution: Begin a daily family Bible reading.
Dear friends, today we remember Mar Timotheos, the young disciple of St Paul. Paul charges him: pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called (1 Timothy 6:11–12).
Timothy was young, timid and often sick, yet he became a shepherd of the church in Ephesus. God's strength works through our weakness.
In the Gospel Jesus says: I have come not to abolish but to fulfill (Matthew 5:17). The Old Testament is not thrown away; Christ fulfils it. Timothy learned the Scriptures from his mother and grandmother.
Let our homes too be schools of the word. Let us fight the good fight and hand on the faith. Amen.
Children, Timothy learned about God from his mother and grandmother. Who teaches you about God? Thank them today!
Lord Jesus, you came not to abolish but to fulfil. Through the prayers of Mar Timotheos make us fight the good fight of the faith, take hold of eternal life, and hand on the faith in our homes as Lois and Eunice did. Amen.
On the day the Church remembers Mar Timotheos, both readings speak of keeping faithfully what has been handed on. Paul charges his young co-worker to fight the good fight and to keep the commandment until the Lord appears. In the Gospel Jesus says that he has come not to abolish the law and the prophets but to fulfil them. Timothy knew both sides of this: he learned the sacred writings from childhood (2 Timothy 1:5; 3:15) and then learned from Paul to read them in the light of Christ.
Setting.
Timothy came from Lystra, the son of a Jewish mother and a Greek father (Acts 16:1), and became Paul's constant companion. Paul left him at Ephesus to guard the Church from false teaching (1 Timothy 1:3), and the historian Eusebius records him as the first bishop of Ephesus. The verses just before today's reading warn against the love of money, so “shun all this” points to greed and the quarrels that surround it.
A note on authorship: the Church has always received this letter as inspired and as coming under Paul's name. Many scholars today think the letters to Timothy and Titus were written by a disciple carrying on Paul's teaching; others defend Paul as their author. The question does not change the letter's authority.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness.” (6:11)
“Man of God” is the old title of Moses, Elijah and the prophets. The list ends with endurance and gentleness: strength that does not turn harsh.
“In the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you” (6:13)
The Creed we pray still names Pontius Pilate, because our faith rests on what happened at a real time and place. Timothy's courage is measured by Christ's own courage on trial.
“It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.” (6:16)
Earthly lords looked very large in the Roman world. This hymn reminds a young pastor who is truly King.
How the Church reads it.
In its teaching on revelation the Catechism uses this verse: God, who “dwells in unapproachable light”, wants to share his own divine life with us (CCC 52). It also teaches that a Christian must profess the faith without equivocation when witness is required (CCC 2471). These two go together in the reading: adoration of the God beyond all sight, and courage in plain daylight before the powers of this world.
Setting.
These verses come early in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7), after the Beatitudes and the words about salt and light. They open the section where Jesus says “You have heard that it was said” and goes deeper into the commandments (5:21–48). “The law or the prophets” is a way of naming the Scriptures of Israel. Many scholars think Matthew wrote for a community with a strong Jewish Christian background, for whom this question mattered greatly.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” (5:17)
“For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.” (5:18)
Nothing God has said falls to the ground. In Matthew the phrase “until all is accomplished” looks toward what God brings to completion in Jesus.
“For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (5:20)
This is not contempt for the Pharisees, whose love of the law was real. The Catechism notes that integral observance of the law in letter and spirit was dear to them (CCC 579). Jesus asks his disciples for more, not for less.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism takes these verses as the key to Jesus' relation to the law (CCC 577–582), and teaches that the Law of the Gospel fulfils, refines, surpasses and leads the Old Law to its perfection (CCC 1967). St Augustine gave the Church its classic saying: the New Testament lies hidden in the Old, and the Old is made plain in the New (CCC 129). This is why the Holy Qurbono reads from both, and why a Christian never treats the Scriptures of Israel as something left behind.
If Jesus did not abolish the law, why do Christians not keep all its food rules and rites?
Theologians such as St Thomas Aquinas distinguish the moral commands, which remain for ever, from the rites and civil rules of ancient Israel, which pointed ahead to Christ and reach their goal in him. The Council of Jerusalem already settled this for Gentile believers (Acts 15). The moral law is not lessened but deepened (CCC 1968).
The title “Apostle” for Mar Timotheos is used in the wider sense: he was not one of the Twelve, but a man sent with Paul, who may include him when he writes “apostles of Christ” (1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2:7). He was young for his task (1 Timothy 4:12) and often unwell (5:23). His memory encourages catechists, parents and young priests: faith passed on by a grandmother and a mother (2 Timothy 1:5) can go on to feed a whole Church.