Friday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
September 17, 2021
Daily Reading from the USCCB: 1 Timothy 6:2c-12
In New Testament times, religious teaching was not offered only by Christian evangelists but by other teachers as well–purveyors of heterodox religious doctrines. Here Paul urges Timothy to beware of such teachers.
You can tell they are false teachers, Paul says, because they teach things that are different from what the Church and the Church’s representatives offer. Their doctrines give rise to tensions and rivalries. They use their teaching for material gain.
Paul acknowledges that religion can be a source of gain, but spiritual gain. Those who are using religion as a source of temporal enrichment are headed for ruin and destruction. Instead they should pursue righteousness and eternal life. Perhaps we should ask ourselves what we hope to gain from our religious practices.
