Homily 1 for 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily 1 for the
30th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Oct. 26, 2025
2 Tim 4: 6-8, 16-18
Villa Maria, Bronx

Paul in Prison (Rembrandt)

“I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith” (2 Tim 4: 7).

We’ve been reading selections from Paul’s letters to Timothy for about 2 months, including 4 weeks with passages from 2 Timothy.  This evening we conclude all that with Paul’s conclusion to that letter as the conclusion to his life nears:  “the time of my departure is at hand” (4:6).

Paul’s writing from prison, suffering not only what that implies but also from lack of support from the Christians of Rome:  “everyone deserted me” (4:16).  That combination of sufferings, he thinks, amounts to a sacrifice he offers to the Lord:  “I’m already being poured out like a libation” (4:6), his energy, his strength, his spirits being sapped.

But not entirely.  “The Lord stood by me and gave me strength,” and even in his trial he finds the opportunity to proclaim the Gospel (4:17).  He tells Timothy that he’s been “rescued from the lion’s mouth” (4:17), which could mean deliverance, for the moment, from an imperial desire that he be condemned or deliverance from the Devil’s grasp because he “has kept the faith” rather than save his life by forsaking Christ.  He retains his confidence that the Lord will continue to save him—not necessarily from bodily harm but from “every evil threat” to his salvation—and will finally see him into the Lord’s “heavenly kingdom” (4:18).

We’re not in prison or on trial for the Faith, happily.  But we all know that “the time of our departure is at hand” simply because of our age and our physical conditions.  With Paul we can say that so far we’ve competed well in our struggles to follow Jesus; we’ve kept the faith; we’ve continued to put our trust in our Savior’s ultimate protection.  We trust that he won’t allow us to fear what lies ahead of us as, sooner or later, we make the passage from here to hereafter; that he won’t “lead us into temptation” to despair of God’s care for us, but rather to know “the Lord stands by” us and strengthens us to cling confidently to him.

As we’ve tried to give God glory thruout our lives and to help others do so, we trust that the Lord will mercifully bestow on us a “crown of righteousness” (4:8) in spite of our weaknesses.  We may be tempted to tremble at the thought of Christ’s judgment.  But the faith we keep encourages us to “long for his appearance” (4:8).  We know he loves us and desires us.  We know he “hears the cry of the poor” (Resp Psalm).  Like the publican in Jesus’ parable,  we poor sinners cry to him (Luke 18:9-14) to “deliver us from evil,” “from every evil threat and bring [us] safely to his heavenly kingdom.  To him be glory forever and ever.  Amen” (4:18).