But you, man of God, pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience and gentleness. Compete well for the faith. Lay hold of eternal life to which you were called. Keep the commandments without stain or reproach. (1 Tim. 6:11-12, 14)

These were the words of St. Paul when he addressed Timothy in his writing which is part of our second reading this 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

If we analyze St. Paul’s letter to Timothy, he was actually mentoring Timothy to discipleship. He was saying that in order to be a disciple of Jesus, he should first strive to be a man of God and he enumerated the above traits on how this can be achieved. Well, that helped Timothy. He became a faithful disciple of Jesus and companion of St. Paul in his missionary journey.

Now, if we will take this admonition of St. Paul into our own journey, I think it is also helpful to us, especially in our pursuit to holiness and devotion to God. How faith, love, patience and gentleness can transform us into a better version of ourselves in our everyday life, especially in our relationship with God and our dealings with others.

When we are challenged by trials and struggles in life or with other personalities that we encounter every day, we will not easily be carried away with our impulsive reactions and negative thoughts because we try to be positive in our approach through the practice of those said virtues. We will be less self-centered and be sensitive of others, which is another virtue, especially in dealing with the poor people around us.

Actually, this was what the rich man was lacking in the gospel and what sent him to hell after he died. Not that he abused the poor man, Lazarus, when he was still alive and did wrong, but because of his self-centeredness and lack of sensitivity that led to doing nothing to alleviate the pain and suffering of Lazarus. That was his mistake. It was the sin of omission, the failure to do good that brought him to torment in the next life.

So truly, it is not enough to be good and holy. We also need to be sensitive to the people around us especially the poor, the sick and the needy and do whatever we can to make them better. After all, whatever we do to them, we do it to Christ, especially when it is done out of love. (Mt. 25: 40)