My child

In both of the selections available for today’s first reading (2 Timothy 1:1-8 and Titus 1:1-5), St. Paul refers to the respective addressee – Timothy or Titus – as “my child.”

He is not calling them or treating them like children in any negative sense. Rather he is expressing the love and the deep feeling of care he has for these two people whose faith he has helped grow and who are now his coworkers in the faith.

May each of us
have that same love and deep feeling of care
for those with whom we share our faith
and those with whom we labor for the faith
in the name of Jesus.