1 Timothy 2:5-6
For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony to which was borne at the proper time.
One key to bearing witness to Christ is paying attention to the “signs of the times”. Many Christians get angry if their witness to Jesus is not instantly received. But Jesus himself reminds us that the gospel is like a ripening crop and that, as Paul says, the testimony is given “at the proper time”. Jesus himself was born, not just any time, but “in the fullness of time” according to Paul. Similarly, each of us have “graced moments” in our lives when, for whatever reason, we have been ripened to the point that the gospel can be heard and grasped where once it could not be. Paul himself is a case in point. There was a time when he was not ready to hear the gospel. Then the time to listen arrived. If you had looked at Saul of Tarsus, glowering in the crowd at the apostles’ teaching, you would never have thought he was going to ripen up into St. Paul. But the testimony was borne at the proper time and he listened. This is why the Church always counsels hope even with the most unlikely people. You never know…
