Jubilee and Blessing of Catechists.
As the Second Reading these Sundays, we are hearing from St Paul’s 1st Letter to Timothy. Timothy was one of St Paul’s closest collaborations, friend, companion, his spiritual son. . He was the son of a Greek father and a Jewish Christian mother, Eunice. By tradition, Paul put him in charge of the Christian community in Ephesus, in modern Turkey. Paul was an apostle, St Timothy effectively was what we call a bishop, a successor of the apostles. In today’s reading (1 Tim 6:11-16), St Paul is giving some last instructions to Timothy. “Pursue faith love steadfastness gentleness, fight the good fight of the faith, and so on.” He charges him “to keep the commandment unstained”. The phrase stands out and makes us wonder. Which commandment does St Paul mean? I don’t think he has a particular commandment in mind. He is using the word in a broad sense – for everything the Lord has laid down for us. He is saying Stick to the “Christian thing”, the Christian way, and play your own part within it. St Paul is being hot and strong about this. “I charge you”, he says, in the presence of the life-giving God, mindful of Christ’s own loyalty in his Passion, aware that He, Christ, will come again, to hold us to account.
This can rouse us all. We have all received the gift of the Christian faith, and each of us in his or her own sphere is called to hold to it, make it their own and pass it on.
Happily, this is the Sunday we think of and affirm and bless the Catechists among us. Happily too, in this Jubilee year, these last days and today especially, are the Jubilee of Catechists. This very morning in Rome Pope Leo has celebrated Mass with Catechists from all over the world.
Catechists are those, lay people mainly, who with love in their hearts, hand on what we believe, what the Church believes, to others. They do this to children and young people mainly, but also perhaps preparing adults for baptism and or in the context of other forms of adult formation. The context is normally the parish, sometimes schools, or other communities. Catechesis is an ancient form of Christian service, it’s a ministry within the Church. Many saints have been catechists. In 2015, for example, Pope Francis beatified Benedict Daswa, a South African catechist and educator, who in 1990 lost his life because he refused to take part in a superstitious campaign against alleged witches. Saints Charles Borromeo and Robert Bellarmine are the patrons of catechists. St John Bosco, St John Mary Vianney, were great catechists. How many religious sisters and brothers too! The word “catechise” originally means to instruct by word of mouth. It’s connected with our word “echo”. It implies making something “resound”. A Catechist is called to re- echo God’s word, the message of salvation, and to make it “resound” in the hearts of others. Catechising means transmitting the Word of God, kindling knowledge and love of Jesus Christ in hearts. It entails listening to and answering the questions of those who are opening up to the Word of God, resolving their doubts, connecting the faith with daily living and people’s concrete circumstances. It involves teaching prayer and leading those being catechised into the sacramental, missionary and charitable life of the Church. It is a form of spiritual motherhood or fatherhood, of spiritual parenting. It is God’s work, achieved with the help of the Holy Spirit. It is a most beautiful ministry.
In today’s 2nd reading, St Paul reminds Timothy of “the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ”, his final epiphany. This is the great horizon of everything that happens in the Church. Perhaps we can say that catechising means preparing hearts and minds to recognise Christ when he comes: in this life already, at the end of our lives, and at the end of time.
So I want to thank and encourage all of you who are Catechists. I thank the Dominican Sisters of our diocese who run the Ogilvie Centre, and who are there to resource and support catechists throughout the diocese, and do so unflaggingly. They are at your service.
Let me mention this too. Wo, under God, are the first catechists? Parents! In relation to their children. Handing on the faith is not something to be outsourced to the clergy or RE teachers in schools or to youth groups or official catechists. All that presuppose, please God, the family. Catechesis, of a very natural and practical kind, begins in the home – at mealtimes, bedtime, in the midst of domestic crises perhaps. Parents, please remember this! “Keep the commandment”. Kindle the love of God in the hearts of your children. Above all, teach them to pray, teach them prayers.
“The God who gives life to all things…” – a beautiful phrase in today’s reading. God gives life through the Word of God. Mothers and fathers are the first catechists, offering spiritual life as well as physical The ordained – bishops, priests and deacons – are ex officio catechists. And, completing the picture, there are those who have a special role of catechising; we’re honouring them today. May the Lord help us all to “keep the commandment unstained”: to pass on the Christian thing, to be part of the Church’s history, to prepare a people fit for the Lord, until he comes.
St Mary’s Cathedral, Aberdeen, 28 September 2025
