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00:00Very good,
00:28And we return now to look at some themes in this second letter to Timothy that may be useful for our personal study of this letter.
00:39The first topic I propose we will take from chapter 1, verses 6 to 8, which refers to stirring up the fire and bearing witness.
00:49A second element that I think is important for us to review is from chapter 2, the topic of discipleship, which is very important in the church.
00:57And a third element I would like to share with you, also from the same chapter 2, but now from verse 16, is our language and testimony,
01:08These are fundamental elements that an apostle, in particular, must maintain.
01:13Okay, if that's alright with you, let's go to 2 Timothy, the letter we're reviewing in this class.
01:20And now let's go to chapter 1, verses 6 through 8.
01:24For this exercise, we are using the Bible Study, and we are using the New International Version.
01:32It is a version that is very close to the Jerusalem Bible version and very close to the Hebrew and Greek texts.
01:44In this case, from Greek. When one buys this Bible, one will realize that it does not have the deuterocanonical books.
01:53But since for our study we don't currently need the deuterocanonical books,
01:58and that the New Testament in all Bibles is the same in Christian Bibles,
02:03Because we know that the Jehovah's Witnesses' teachings are not Christian; they have altered them.
02:08to align with their doctrine, and the Mormons, who also somehow call themselves Christians or followers of Christ,
02:16Nor can we consider them Christians, since they do not follow Holy Scripture.
02:22They follow the Book of Mormon, which has no Christian validity.
02:29So, we find ourselves in 2 Timothy, chapter 1, verses 6 through 8,
02:36That is why I recommend that you fan into flame the gift of God which you received when I laid my hands on you.
02:43For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power, and of love, and of self-control.
02:52So do not be ashamed of bearing witness to our Lord, nor of me, for whom I am a prisoner.
02:59On the contrary, you too, with God's power, must endure suffering for the gospel,
03:08as we mentioned in the final part of the previous segment.
03:12So, what can we talk about with all this, right?
03:16To fan the flame of the Spirit to bear witness.
03:19It's important to keep the flame alive.
03:26Timothy, don't let the flame go out.
03:31Remember, brothers, we have an enemy.
03:33an enemy who will continually seek to extinguish the fire of God in our hearts.
03:39And he achieves this through lukewarmness.
03:41To reach lukewarmness, we simply need to gradually abandon our prayer.
03:48gradually abandoning study, ceasing to delve deeper into Sacred Scripture,
03:53to stop leading a truly ascetic life.
03:57And then our whole life begins to rapidly erode.
04:01Little by little the fire of the Spirit is going out.
04:04And what would we have of a leader who does not have the fire of God in his heart?
04:09We would have no one.
04:11Because those who do not have God cannot communicate Him.
04:14And God's communication is not simply through preaching.
04:17It is something that happens from the soul to the person.
04:21Therefore, Paul, concerned for the apostle, says to him,
04:24Don't let the fire of God go out in your heart.
04:28Keep it on.
04:29And this implies, my beloved brothers, much time in prayer.
04:34In general, as I have mentioned at different times in our courses, Christians
04:38The modern Christian does not pray, or prays very little.
04:44He dedicates very little time to prayer.
04:46It is true that we have not learned to pray,
04:49that we have not been taught in prayer.
04:53We probably learned to pray when we were little,
04:56The Lord's Prayer, the Hail Mary,
04:58which we continue to repeat today, often without even understanding what we are saying.
05:04We say the Lord's Prayer, but we say it while we're making the stew.
05:09while we are driving,
05:11while we are distracted by so many things.
05:14That makes the prayer not very effective.
05:17When I say Father, and I focus on Him,
05:21When I let my mind conjure up everything that the paternal experience could bring to my life,
05:27That changes.
05:28But we haven't been educated in this.
05:32That's why I've insisted on several occasions that you look into it.
05:36We are also about to begin recording a two-year prayer course.
05:41We hope this will also be of great use to all of you.
05:45But in the meantime, there are Father Larrañaga's courses.
05:49Excellent.
05:50Thirteen sessions.
05:52That is, thirteen weeks.
05:53And in them he gives us the foundations to begin our path of prayer.
05:58The penance.
06:00We have been little initiated into the subject of fasting.
06:03Little by little, this has been diluted within our church as well.
06:07Little or no fasting is done.
06:09We lack devotion when participating in our sacraments.
06:13The reading of the word has been done in many cases,
06:17often in a purely scientific manner,
06:21theoretical, critical.
06:22And not as we have sought to do within our school of biblical spirituality.
06:27Where we seek that the word of God truly be a light and lamp for our path.
06:33Timothy, do not let the fire in your heart go out.
06:37Brother, don't let the fire in your heart go out.
06:40Otherwise, you will hardly be able to be a good apostle.
06:44You will hardly be able to be a collaborator of our Lord Jesus Christ.
06:48He asks her not to be ashamed of the Gospel.
06:54Today, then, persecution is not like it was in those times.
07:01That is, the persecution over time, especially when Saint Paul was writing,
07:05Nero's persecution, because it is not like we generally experience it today.
07:11Certainly, today the places in the East, right?
07:15Like Iraq, Iran, and all these places, we receive news of this bloody persecution.
07:22In other words, they cruelly persecute Christians there.
07:25They are still killing them there, they are still torturing them.
07:28They continue trying to make them abandon their faith.
07:30In China, in Iran, in Iraq, in many places.
07:36Today in our media it's not quite like that.
07:39Today in our media, attacks are more often related to bullying.
07:43With not being accepted into social groups.
07:46By treating us as strangers to the communities.
07:51To be segregated.
07:51And this makes it easy for one to retract, to withdraw.
07:58Or to diminish in their fervor and faith in the Lord.
08:02If we look at the text of Luke 9:26, it says,
08:08If anyone is ashamed of me and my message,
08:11Even the Son of Man will be ashamed of him,
08:14when he comes in his glory and in the glory of his Father and of the holy angels.
08:19In other words, we can't be ashamed.
08:22On the contrary, we should feel proud.
08:25To suffer for Christ.
08:26From being excluded from our social groups.
08:29From being bullied.
08:31Therefore, we do not have a sometimes open relationship with our environment.
08:37In the beginning, obviously, this caused the Christians to start grouping together.
08:43They were gradually excluded from the pagan groups,
08:46who did not understand his doctrine, his way of thinking, his way of seeing things,
08:51They were excluded.
08:52And then they began to form Christian communities.
08:56But little by little, those pagan communities,
08:59those communities that started bullying them,
09:03Little by little they began to discover in the Christian community
09:06the true space where one could be happy,
09:09where one could grow.
09:10And those who at one time were persecutors,
09:14They gradually became part of Christian life,
09:18as happened to Paul himself.
09:21So, as we were saying, Pablo insists,
09:25Paul is concerned about his disciple,
09:27because he knows the pressure is high.
09:30I am very worried about young people.
09:32because they are the most fragile,
09:35They are the ones who are exposed, especially in university settings,
09:37under attack from their teachers, under attack from their friends,
09:42in a world of pagans,
09:44in a world that today seeks to experience unbridled sexuality,
09:47who seeks to experience pleasures in an exorbitant way,
09:53that the main interest is money.
09:57All of this affects them greatly.
10:01And when they begin to work on their Christian life
10:04and they present themselves to them as good Christians,
10:07They will surely experience what happened to Timothy.
10:11They are rejected,
10:12They are thrown out of social groups.
10:16And what are they looking for during this period?
10:18establish a relationship with their environment,
10:21They look abandoned.
10:23And since there are few young Christians,
10:26Well then they can't find it
10:27where to continue their Christian life.
10:31That's why group formation is important.
10:34That's why it's important to support them.
10:37Above all, as Saint Paul tells him,
10:39Don't be ashamed.
10:40Don't be ashamed of being a Christian.
10:42On the contrary,
10:44be very proud.
10:46And when they bully you,
10:47And when they say things about you,
10:50say,
10:50Blessed be the Lord.
10:51Thank you,
10:52because you have allowed me to suffer for your sake.
10:57Remember that Jesus has clothed us
10:59with the strength from above.
11:01The end of the Gospel of Luke,
11:04Chapter 24,
11:05in verse 49,
11:07says,
11:07And I will send upon you
11:09what my Father promised.
11:12And what did he promise?
11:14The power from above,
11:16says,
11:17Stay here in the city of Jerusalem
11:19until they receive the power
11:21that comes from heaven.
11:23So,
11:23we have been clothed with this strength
11:26to be able to face this world.
11:29We have no reason to intimidate,
11:32we have no reason to doubt
11:34that God will lead us forward
11:35and that we will be able to remain faithful.
11:39Clear,
11:40If we let the fire go out,
11:43if we abandon prayer,
11:44If we stop meditating,
11:46If we stop going to Mass frequently,
11:48if we stop going to confession frequently,
11:50if we don't fast,
11:52brother,
11:53your life is eroding
11:54and easily,
11:56well,
11:57Your faith will perish.
11:58What Jesus said
11:59in the parable of the sower,
12:02Matthew chapter 13.
12:03It will be from the grains
12:05that fell to the ground,
12:07It was good soil,
12:08except that it also had thorns there
12:10and says,
12:11and the amenities
12:12or if not from those
12:13that had barely begun to emerge
12:15But they didn't have enough land.
12:17and the persecutions exhausted her.
12:20We need to have
12:21very solid,
12:22our roots are deep
12:24and power
12:25to be certain
12:27about what
12:28being Christian
12:29It is truly
12:30an honor.
12:31Saint Paul
12:33he writes in his letter
12:34to the Romans
12:34in chapter 1
12:36It says the following,
12:38I'm not ashamed
12:39of the gospel
12:40because it is the power of God
12:41so that all who believe
12:43attain salvation,
12:45the Jews
12:46first of all
12:47but also
12:48those who are not.
12:49Is
12:49power of God.
12:51I'm not ashamed
12:52of being a Christian,
12:54I'm not ashamed
12:55of the gospel.
12:56Brother,
12:56Don't be ashamed
12:59of being a Christian
13:00and keep alive
13:02the flame
13:03that God sowed
13:04on the day
13:05that you met
13:06to Jesus.
13:07On that day
13:08in which God
13:09presented
13:09in your life
13:10and began
13:11the Christian path,
13:13the day
13:13that you participated
13:14of the kerigma,
13:16don't leave
13:17turn it off.
13:18Use all
13:19the tools
13:20that proposes
13:21the church
13:21so you can
13:22keep
13:23on
13:24the fire
13:24of faith
13:24and don't go
13:26to finish
13:27abandoning her
13:28and so
13:30discrediting
13:31our faith
13:32and above all
13:34as he asks
13:34to the apostle
13:35by embarrassing you
13:37of the others
13:38Christians
13:39and of Jesus himself.
13:41Good,
13:41we return
13:42for our
13:42two other topics
13:43in our
13:44next capsule.
13:45I'll wait for you
13:46in a few moments.
13:54Thank you!