Homily: Feast of St. Timothy and Titus

Feast of St. Timothy and Titus (Titus 1:1-5) “Effective Leadership”

Steven Covey once wrote a book about the seven habits of highly effective people. I read the book and the main message that I derived from it was that leaders need to delegate. Those that don’t are overwhelmed with the many tasks they have to perform.

St. Paul was a great leader. He was able to delegate many of the tasks that he needed to perform. It would have been very hard to micromanage things in the days that Paul lived. There were no emails, phones or other modern communication devices.

When a person traveled it was very dangerous, so it was safest to travel with a companion. If you did not you might be beaten and robbed or you might get sick and there would be no one to help you.

Paul needed people to travel with him and he seemed to always have a companion or two to help him along his way. He also needed a communications network so he had to have trusted messengers that could handle delivering sensitive messages to far flung church communities.

The messengers had to be delivered in a pastoral manner. If the messages weren’t clear, it might take months to send and receive follow-up correspondence. St. Paul needed trusted coworkers.

Two of his best collaborators were Timothy and Titus. Paul was a good judge of character, and he formed these two bishops in a very loving way.

Timothy and Titus imitated St. Paul in their fidelity to the Gospel. They were great bishops and they ended up being martyrs for the faith. This proved how committed they were to Christ.

Reflection Questions:

1.    Has anyone ever entrusted me with an important task? Who was it and what did I do?

2.   Do I trust others to do things for me? Why is it a good idea to accept help?

 Dear Parishioners,

           Next week we begin Catholic Schools week. This is always an important week as we promote the work of Catholic schools. There will be several events during the week.

          On Tuesday there will be a service day. Students will go out in the community to work for various organizations to help those in need. On Friday at 9:30 a.m. there will be an all-school Mass. On Friday evening there will be a Spaghetti dinner and basket raffle at Culemans Hall.

          Many of you will receive the Annual Seton Appeal. Please be generous when it arrives at your home.

          May Our Lady Pray for Us,

          Fr. Mark DeSutter