Extraordinary People
A Daily Catholic Reflection
Tuesday of the Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time
Readings: Ti 2:1-8, 11-14; Ps 37:3-4, 18 and 23, 27 and 29; Lk 17:7-10
G.K. Chesterton once said, “The most extraordinary thing in the world is an ordinary man and an ordinary woman and their ordinary children.” In today’s reading, Paul writes to Titus about how men and women of our Lord should behave.
Be temperate, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, love, and endurance.
The list seems simple enough, but each item fights against our natural instincts or cultural desires. Nowadays, we only hear about temperance during the last three seconds of a beer commercial. The idea of self-control pushes up against the ideals of social media companies that design their platforms for people to indulge without ceasing.
We do not achieve these virtues on our own, however, for the grace of God has appeared, saving all and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires. We may accomplish these simple deeds through constant prayer, devotion, and continual practice. “If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing badly,” we will struggle in our pursuit of these virtues, but only in the pursuit within God’s grace can we improve.
Paul calls Christians to a life of simplicity. To be temperate in our desires, chaste in our passions, and loving in our relationships as we await the blessed hope, the appearance of the glory of the great God and of our savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to deliver us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people as his own, eager to do what is good.