January 26, 2015 8:30am

Since today is the celebration of Saints Timothy and Titus, our first reading is from Saint Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy.

I am selecting just one point, in fact one word in this passage for our reflection this morning.

Paul identifies himself as an apostle, writing “to Timothy, my dear child.”

At the beginning of his letter to Titus, Paul also refers to Titus as “my true child in our common faith.”

Paul sees Timothy and Titus as his spiritual children.

He has shared his faith with them.

In turn, they have come to believe in Jesus as the risen Savior and have even become disciples not just of Paul, but of Jesus.

I am sure that most parents want to look upon their sons and daughters as spiritual children.

They want to share their faith with their children and they want their children to embrace it and live it.

I hope I also am a spiritual father to others.

That is what lies behind the title “Father” for priests in our Church.

I feel sure that our religion teachers or catechists or RCIA catechists want to be spiritual parents.

So, many of us, in many roles want a spiritual parenthood with others as Paul has with Timothy and Titus.

For this, we need to share our faith by word and even more importantly, by example.

And then we need to respect the freedom and growth of the other person.

We need patience to allow the seed we have planted to grow – maybe to grow in God’s time.

Sometimes this is not easy and we are tempted to become impatient and frustrated.

But, personal example, respect, and patience – these traits are ultimately the ones that will work.

They are important in our being spiritual parents and in looking upon another as our spiritual child.