Please read this passage before reading the homily.
The letters of Paul to Timothy are called ‘mandate letters’. This means that they are for the instruction of the Church that Timothy was governing. Timothy already knew the gift he had received by the laying on of hands, but Christians there had to hear that he had received this gift when Paul had imposed his hands over Timothy.
Timothy had received a spirit of strength, not one of fear. He had likewise received the gifts of love and self-control. The life of Timothy was holy, filled with right living, and according to solid teaching. His life was one that the rest of the Christians should be imitating.
We Christians have received the same spirit that Timothy received two thousand years ago. We are not supposed to be ashamed of giving testimony about Jesus Christ, nor of living our life in today’s Church because the Lord has given us strength and encouragement so that we have the ability to give testimony and to suffer for the proclamation of the Gospel.
Paul, Timothy, and our ancestors are examples of Christ, and we should be imitating them in the name of Christ. We have the power to do this because God has given us strength through the sacraments of the Church, just as God gave strength to Paul, Timothy, and the other heroes of the apostolic age.
Let us not ashamed of the Christian way of life. Rather let us share our sufferings for the proclamation of the Gospel.
Paul wrote to Timothy and through Timothy to us in order to confirm us in God’s way of living.