If you were to write a letter to a friend or colleague, would you make a shopping list of your flaws? Might we all not, instead, chat about the events of life, our achievements, perhaps how our stock, or that of our children or others we know, has risen a bit? In his letter to Timothy, Paul reinforces the lessons of the scriptures of the past few Sundays: how we must humble ourselves, how our strength is in God alone, how we can be strong or exalted only in Christ. The fact that we are still standing in the presence of the Lord despite all our shortcomings is a sign of divine patience. Paul writes to Timothy that gratitude is his response to God's mercy, to God's grace and love poured out in Christ Jesus. Paul is grateful that God considered him trustworthy to be appointed to his vocation, his ministry to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ everywhere. In this, we are shown that our own response to God for whatever vocation God has for chosen us is to be gratitude. And that gratitude ought to refuel us to continue the mission of spreading the Good News everywhere.
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