Saints Paul and Timothy: A Bond Forged in Heaven

This is how it is with the Kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land . . . To what shall we compare the Kingdom of God, or what parable can we use for it? It is like a mustard seed . . . (Mk 4:26, 30)

What is our understanding of heaven? Sometimes our understanding of heaven can be that it is “up there,” and that those within it kind of float around for eternity, full of love and without pain. The love and pain-free existence sounds nice, but the rest can sound rather . . . unappealing. We like the idea of being united with Jesus forever, but in practicality, few of us are ready to die right here and now just to obtain that theoretical goal. Whatever we understand about heaven, it is not even motivation enough to keep us from sinning here on earth—regularly! The truth is, we do not understand heaven. We only understand what heaven is like.

When St. Paul speaks to us of heaven and what it will mean to have our resurrected bodies united eternally to our souls, he understands this concept perfectly. The Holy Spirit has opened his mind and has given him access to this mystery. But us? We have no clue what a resurrected body could possibly look like or how it can be. Dead, buried, disintegrated corpses . . . raised from the dead? That sounds more like a horror movie!

St. Paul knows that we do not understand, so he gives us an example of what it will be like, so that while we still cannot wrap our minds around the concept, at least we can see now how it could be possible. Paul compares our deceased body to a seed, one that must be buried in the ground, before it can grow to flourishing new life . . . later (1 Cor 15:35-55). That is a concept we do understand. And because we understand that example, we can accept the teaching on the resurrection, though it remains for us a mystery.

Now St. Paul’s beloved disciple Timothy needs no such parables and examples in order to understand the kingdom of God. Timothy is the one person whom Paul can safely say that he has received, accepted, and understood all that Paul has taught him. About Timothy, Paul writes:

I have no one like him, who will be genuinely anxious for your welfare. They all look after their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But Timothy’s worth you know, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel. (Phil 2:20-22)

So why does Paul exhort Timothy “to stir into flame the gift of God” that he has received and caution him against “a spirit of cowardice” (2 Tim 1:6-7)? Paul’s admonition is not for one who is lukewarm in the practice of the faith. His admonition is for Timothy—who, because of his faithful service, Paul has said there is “no one like”! Under what circumstances could Timothy possibly turn away from his faith, after everything he has already professed to accept and understand?

Paul is writing to Timothy from prison. The reality is, Paul’s life will soon be coming to an end, and he will not be around much longer to be the father-figure and friend that he has steadfastly been to Timothy. Paul has been the one who has kept Timothy going, encouraged him when his faith was weak, reminded him of all that the Spirit was doing in his life, renewing the peace and joy of Christ in his heart. Paul is the only one whom Timothy truly would have had to look to in order to understand the Lord’s action in his life. The only one he had to teach him how to love.

How could he go on and bear such hardship for Christ on his own? Timothy would have believed that he needed Paul! And without Paul’s admonition to him today—perhaps the very last words Timothy would ever receive from his beloved teacher, father-figure, and best friend—it is entirely possible that Timothy could have given up hope. He could have turned away from the faith. We can imagine Timothy would have clung to these words of Paul, carrying his precious letter around with him in his pocket for the rest of his life, through every persecution, trial, hardship, and loss—right up until the day of his martyrdom that would come thirty years after St. Paul’s own.

Perhaps that letter would have been retrieved by a disciple of Timothy as he carried Timothy’s lifeless body in his arms, found tucked inside the pocket of Timothy’s cloak that had faithfully carried it since the day of St. Paul’s martyrdom. Whatever the case, Timothy held fast to the teachings of Paul for all those decades without his beloved companion by his side, and indeed, “guard[ed] what [had] been entrusted to [him]” (1 Tim 6:20).

So how do we apply this lesson in our own lives? First, like Timothy, let us guard our faith. We do so by remaining faithful to our practices of prayer and the Sacraments, even when we are busy, and especially in moments of trial and suffering. St. Francis de Sales once said, “Every one of us needs half an hour of prayer a day, except when we are busy—then we need an hour.” Let us make the firm decision to not put off prayer for the last place when we are busy, as if it is dispensable, “just in case” we run out of time. It is the other way around: prayer must always be first in the order of importance! In this way, the Holy Spirit can take the wheel when it comes to the things we have to accomplish in a given day, giving us eyes to see how our tasks can be done simply, effectively, and efficiently, thereby making our burden light.

When it comes to trials and sufferings, however, we are presented with a whole other challenge: the greater our sorrow, the harder it can be for us to pray. It seems that we cannot read, we cannot speak, we cannot even think. How do we find the energy to keep up with our spiritual practices and  prayerful routines? Well, fortunately, in these moments, Jesus does not ask us to “keep up” with anything. He simply asks us to keep Him in our hearts. St. Therese of Lisieux once said, “For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.” As long as we say to Jesus, “I love you,” it is enough. And until the time we have the strength to return to our regular practices of prayer once again, we can rely on the prayers of our trusted spiritual companions to see us through—just as Paul and Timothy surely did for each other.           


Author’s Note: Excerpt from The Safe Haven: Scriptural Reflections for the Heart and Home, Ordinary Time (Weeks 1-7). To purchase, visit Amazon or The Catholic Company, where all other volumes currently in print are also available.  

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M.C. Holbrook is a homeschooling mother of ten and author of the series, The Safe Haven: Scriptural Reflections for the Heart and Home. Originally from New York City, Holbrook received a Bachelor’s degree in Human Development and Family Studies from Cornell University, and a Master’s degree in School Counseling from New York University. Holbrook enjoys meals with her family, prayer with her friends, and a hot cup of coffee each morning with the Word of God.

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