March 9, 2012 – 2 Timothy 1

A friend of mine loves to use the visual aid of Chocolate milk when discussing the Holy Spirit inside of us. When we receive this gift, it is like the chocolate coming into the milk. You can picture the liquid all sinking to the bottom. It will just sit there if you leave it alone and if you try to drink it, it will taste exactly like normal milk. It is only with the stirring and mixing it up that you are able to see the difference. When I look back on my confirmation, this visual is very understandable because that is what happened to me. I received the gift, the Graces, but they just settled and were not stirred up.

Here we see Paul instructing Timothy to stir up those gifts that they can be used, that he can be changed, and be an example and leader for those around him. It is also a lesson in complacency. When we begin to feel like we are in a good spot, we stop striving and growing, the chocolate will begin to settle to the bottom, and even though we still may appear and taste differently, we are a weaker tasting chocolate milk. Now that I wrote that, I think the visual needs to include a stirred of glass of chocolate milk that was allowed to sit idle for a while to show that we need to continually stir up our Graces.

And it is interesting that these gifts and graces Paul is talking about did not come to Timothy by anything Timothy confessed or believed or did. “I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God* that you have through the imposition of my hands”. 1:6 Timothy received them through the laying on of hands by Paul. Whether this be through Confirmation or Ordination isn’t as clear (although the footnotes seem to explain it was Ordination). Timothy did not receive the Graces that Paul is talking about through “faith alone” or confessing that “Jesus Christ was his personal lord and savior”. It came through the Sacraments, the Catholic Sacraments.