BEARING FRUITS

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GOSPEL: Mark 4:26-34

THEME: BEARING FRUITS

We celebrate today the heroic lives of two saints who endeavoured to do the will of God and consequently bore abundant fruits. Timothy was a product of a ‘mixed’ marriage (his father a Greek and his mother a Jew). He became a convert to the Christian faith under the instrumentality of Paul, perhaps somewhere in the year 47 AD. Although young, he was sent on difficult missions by Paul and later became the bishop of Ephesus. He laid down his life for the cause of the Gospel. According to tradition, he was stoned to death at Ephesus under the reign of Nerva Caesar Augustus.

Titus, on the other hand, was a full blooded Gentile, a Greek, apparently from Antioch. Titus was part and parcel of the team of missionaries who worked with Paul. For example, when Paul had to deal with some trouble spots in the Christian community at Corinth, Titus was the bearer of Paul’s severe letter and he assisted in smoothing things out. Titus also served the Christian faith as bishop of Crete. He is said to have died a peaceful death at the age of about 95.

In the Gospel text, Jesus speaks of the kingdom of God saying: “It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade" (Mk. 4:31-32).

Timothy and Titus may have had insignificant beginnings but their choice to allow the mustard seed of the kingdom of God to be sown in their hearts made them to shoot up and become models of the Christian faith. Now their branches extend from one generation to the next.

Similarly, when we take the message of the Kingdom seriously and allow ourselves to be rooted in the Word of God, we too would shoot up exceedingly in all spheres of life. Our lives would bear fruits and we would stand out as living testimonies of the Gospel.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, you are my hope and salvation. May the seed of your Word sprout in my heart and make my life blossom to glorify your precious name. Amen.

“May the darkness of sin and the night of unbelief vanish before the light of the Word and the Spirit of grace. And may the heart of Jesus live in the hearts of all people” (St. Arnold Janssen)