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Saturday 22 October 2016

The First Letter of St. Paul to Timothy Chapter 2


The First Letter of 

St. Paul to Timothy

Chapter 2



1. First of all, then, I urge that supplications, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, 2. for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity.



(The First Letter of St. Paul to Timothy Chapter 2 verses 1 to 2)



Oh God, I thank You for teaching us how to pray and fast and offer thanksgiving rites and offerings both for ourselves and even for others. I pray that during the day or before we sleep we stop and think about what all that happened during the day, and recite a list of things or names of people for which we give thanks or even pray for Amen. May our list be full beyond capacity Amen.



3. This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4. who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.


(The First Letter of St. Paul to Timothy Chapter 2 verses 3 to 4)



Oh God, my Father when You say everyone You mean everyone, therefore we are not to discriminate among ourselves and others, those who are with us as Christians and Roman Catholics to those who are against us, simply because they are of a different creed or belief Amen. 




5. For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human, 6. who gave himself a ransom for all-this was attested at the right time.


(The First Letter of St. Paul to Timothy Chapter 2 verses 5 to 6)



Oh God my Father, there is no other God, there is no other name but Your name! You are the one and only and I simply cannot live or be without You Amen. Let us all join in this song, which is called there is no name like the name of Jesus Amen. I invite you to click on the following link Amen


There is no other name but the name of Jesus



7. For this I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.



(The First Letter of St. Paul to Timothy Chapter 2 verse 7)



Oh God my Father at the appointed time all that You had planned to happen will, in fact, happen or take place. I needed to wait nine years in obedience to Your will before I could change my job, but when the time came I was delivered Amen.


8. I desire, then that in every place the men should pray lifting up holy hands without anger or argument; 9. also that the women should dress themselves modestly and decently in suitable clothing, not with their hair braided, or with gold, pearls, or expensive clothes. 10. but with good works, as is proper for women who profess reverence for God.



(The First Letter of St. Paul to Timothy Chapter 2 verses 8 to 10)



Oh God, my Father may all the moving parts of our body give praise and worship to You and not only our hands. Regardless if we are men or women may we offer our souls and bodies to You in one sacrifice of prayer every day of our lives. As in relation to decency in our apparel when in Your presence, may our beauty be internally witnessed by our faith and the good works that we do, and not by the brand of clothing that we are wearing that is a status symbol Amen.



¹¹ Let a woman learn in silence with full submission.



(The First Letter of St. Paul to Timothy Chapter 2 verse 11)




Oh God, my Father may we all be in full submission to You. I offer You my entire self, that it may always behave according to Your will and not to mine Amen.



¹² I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent.



(The First Letter of St. Paul to Timothy Chapter 2 verse 12)




Oh God, my Father how great is the struggle to achieve equality between genders. Many females have suffered abuse among other reasons but in particular by means of misinterpretation of Your Good News. In Malta, there were times when the husband was the God of the family, in the sense that they regulated how much money they give to their wives and many other rules. The man had unlimited power over his wife and the wife had no rights whatsoever. I thank You, God, that today the situation has improved and women have been given their rights, however, I fear that we are still far away from reaching the needed equality and that this quasi-equality that we have is already creating problems between couples. Today there seems to be no more respect left for each other because we are all seeking to use one's rights as a right and not doing acts out of love, respect and generosity towards others.



¹³ For Adam was formed first, then Eve; ¹⁴ and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. ¹⁵ Yet she will be saved through childbearing, provided they continue in faith and love and holiness, with modesty.



(The First Letter of St. Paul to Timothy Chapter 2 verses 13 to 15)




Oh God my Father that by means of Your Mother Mary the status of women has rightfully increased. In contrast to previous times, women have socially improved and at times are proven to be superior to men in many areas of life and at many times men end up looking up at women and not vice versa. I pray for harmony is established between the genders that make both equal in obedience, love and respect. I pray that we learn to be humble towards each other and find ways of proving ourselves as being superior Amen.



Oh God my Father I would like to end this second chapter of St. Paul's first letter to Timothy with the following prayer;



Oh God, my Father, I pray for equality in the world, especially that among the genders. I pray that our focus is more on duty service to each other in a spirit of love than on looking for our rights. I pray for many women who have been used and abused by people who used Your Word to discriminate against women and in the name of all men I ask for forgiveness. Amen.







Wednesday 29 June 2016

The First Letter of St, Paul to Timothy Chapter 1

 


The First Letter of 

St. Paul to Timothy

Chapter 1






1. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of  Christ Jesus our hope, 2. To Timothy, my loyal child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.




(The First letter of Paul to Timothy Chapter 1 verses 1 to 2)




Oh God my Father how nice it would be if we really and truly acknowledged You as our Father and each of us as being our brother and sister in You. The feeling would be that of us being one big family instead of a bunch of individuals. Amen.




3. I urge you, as I did when I was on my way to Macedonia, to remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people not to teach any different doctrine, 4. and not to occupy themselves with myths and endless genalogies that promote speculation rather than the divine training that is known by faith.




(The First letter of Paul to Timothy Chapter 1 verses 3 to 4)




Oh God at times when meditating on the message of the 'Good News' there is the risk of getting stuck or giving more importance than necessary on certain details and missing out on the real content of the message and what it actually means for us today. Moreover it does not really matter if it were five loaves of bread and two fish or two burger king happy meals and two cokes but the reality, that only in You can we ever find our source of satisfaction. Only You can satisfy our thirst Amen.  




5. But the aim of such instruction is love that comes from a pure heart. a good conscience, and sincere faith. 6. Some people have deviated from these and turned to meaningless talk, 7. desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make assertions.




(The First Letter of St. Paul to Timothy Chapter 1 verses 5 to 7)




Oh God, my Father the aim of the Good News is that we become more like You than ourselves, that we learn how to love, and think like You. May the message of the Good News be planted in the depths of our hearts and mind so that we not only know it but also live it Amen.




8. Now we know that the law is good. If one uses it legitimately. 9. This means understanding that the law is laid down not for the innocent but for the lawless and disobedient, for the godless and sinful, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their father or mother, for murderers, 10. fornicators, sodomites, slave traders, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching 11. that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.




(First Letter of St. Paul to Timothy Chapter 1 verses 8 to 11)




Oh God my Father, I thank You dearly for widening Your parameters so much that You made me eligible to receive Your Good News as a sinner myself and let Your Word shape my life so instead of judging it, I may live according to all that You wanted to share with us in the Bible Amen.




12. I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because he judged me faithful and appointed me to his service, 13. even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor and a man of violence. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14. and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.




(First Letter of St. Paul to Timothy Chapter 1 verses 12 to 14)




Oh God, my Father I also thank You for choosing me to carry out this work, even though I do not have the benediction of the Pope in Your Name. I also thank You for having had mercy on me  even though I am a sinner of sinners. I thank You for loving me Amen.




15. The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the foremost.




(First Letter of St. Paul to Timothy Chapter 1 verse 15)




Oh God, my Father I also consider myself as being a sinner, and that is why I plead for Your love and mercy. I thank You for loving and accepting me as I am with all my sins and blemishes Amen.



16. But for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience, making me an example to those who would come to believe in him for eternal life.



(First Letter of St. Paul to Timothy Chapter 1 verse 16)



Oh God my Father I thank You for using me by permitting me to experience one test after another, it could be that without my being aware through me I am being of an example to others. Therefore I need to be very careful about my conduct. I pray that You keep on using me as in the case of a monitor on a computer. You may be using my life as one big movie that one-day others may follow as a person or family who although experienced many tests in living together the life we led was of an example to all couples who may or are experiencing the same issues Amen.



17. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.


(First Letter of St. Paul to Timothy Chapter 1 verse 17)



Oh God my Father this verse gives a precise description of who You are. You are the king of all ages, that which has passed and that which is to come, You are the God of all. You are not limited by time, therefore You will exist forever and You have been existing even before the creation of time itself. You are invisible as a Holy Spirit, however, whenever You desire, You can become human as in the case of Jesus. Even though many times we do not see You active in our lives, You are still there more active than ourselves, because  You are always one or more step ahead of us Amen. Therefore may all honour be given to You the King of Kings, Master Creator and above all my loving Father, my Dad Amen.



18. I am giving you these instructions, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies made earlier about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, 19. having faith and a good conscience. By rejecting conscience, certain persons have suffered shipwreck in the faith; 20. among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have turned over to Satan, so that they may learn not to blaspheme.



(First Letter of St. Paul to Timothy Chapter 1 verses 18 to 20)



Oh God my Father when we do not listen to that voice within us, which is Your voice we end up in serious trouble. Right now I am facing a big dilemma whether to change my job or not, which is a ten year contract which may either end in 17 days time or which may be renewed for another 10 years. I have already been for an interview and rejected the offer although I had been accepted, now I am being asked to go for an interview by another Human Resources Manager who is insisting that I go and speak to him regarding the possibility of employment. Oh God, I offer You this situation and await Your intervention Amen.


With reference to the voice of our conscience I invite you to listen to this video clip by clicking on the following link:-


The voice of Conscience


Oh God my Father I would like to end this chapter of the first letter of St. Paul to Timothy with the following prayer:



Oh God, my Father I offer this prayer for all who for some reason decided to stop making part of the Roman Catholic Church or an other, churches and decided to either not to believe in anything or to start believing in another form of belief system or religion. I feel responsible as a Roman Catholic not to set negative examples for others for this may discourage others, especially those who depend on others for their belief in You, my God and Father. Amen, 



Thank You Jesus.