Festival of St. Titus, Bishop and Confessor
Posted on January 26, 2022 by under
Scripture: St. Luke 4:22-30 (NKJV)
4:22 So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”
23 He said to them, “You will surely say this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.’” 24 Then He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. 25 But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; 26 but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”
28 So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, 29 and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff. 30 Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way.
Devotion
Those who tell their audiences that Jesus wants everyone healed now, in this life on earth, say it is because He went to this or that place and “Jesus healed them all.” Since He did it then, they say, He will also do it now…unless you don’t have enough “faith”, which, they also say, is shown by what you will or won’t entrust to their “ministry” via cash, card, or check.
What does Jesus say? Not only will He not be accepted “in His own country,” but God specifically didn’t even send Elijah to any of the starving widows of Judah. The prophet went only to the widow of Zarephath, even though the Lord could certainly have fed them all. Consider St. Paul, whose conversion we celebrated yesterday. He gives evidence in his
epistles of suffering various afflictions especially of how he prayed three times for his “thorn in the flesh” to be removed—but God told him that His grace seeing Paul through whatever trial he is talking about was sufficient for him. God taught him faith and endurance, just as he was taught to depend on Him during the blindness that overcame him on the road to
Damascus.
Instead, as we see with Saints Timothy and Titus, whose fathers did not consent to circumcision in their infancy, the Holy Spirit “in His own time and place, works faith in those that hear the Gospel,” and thereby brings the perfect healing of the resurrection to be received in glory.
Prayer: Almighty and Everlasting God, mercifully look upon our infirmities, and in all our dangers and necessities, stretch forth the right hand of Thy Majesty, to help and defend us; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Collect for the Festival of St. Titus, Bishop and Confessor
O God, who didst adorn St. Titus with apostolic virtues, increase in us a spirit directed to a life of duty and justice which is the fruit of a faith which trusts in our Savior, Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
