When Saint Paul, in 1 Tim 4:14, reminds Timothy not to neglect the spiritual gift he possesses through the laying on of hands, he is referring to the gift of teaching.
However, when he reminds him in 2 Tim 1:6–7 to rekindle the gift of God he received through Paul’s own laying on of hands, he is referring to the witness he must give with his life. Paul adds that this gift of the Holy Spirit is not a spirit of cowardice, but of strength, love, and self-control.

The missionary vocation we live can be weakened by many factors. But Paul highlights one of the most worrying: cowardice. At that time, cowardice was not yet a refuge from persecutions—which would later demand the seeds and fruits of faith and the blood of martyrs.
Rather, it was the danger of shrinking back in the face of a world governed by order and power under the Empire, which might consider the prophetic voice of missionary evangelizers as a weak attempt to undermine the common good.

This is not so different from what we live today, in a society built with great ability to deceive itself. A society that prefers to hear its own silence in the face of the big questions about meaning, rather than listen to the voice of the missionary. Often, this silence is accompanied by the silence of the good. A society that will not ask us to speak about a better world, but only of what it already masters and controls.

In paragraph 80 of Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis exclaims: “Let us not allow ourselves to be robbed of missionary enthusiasm!” And in paragraphs 81 to 83, he speaks of paralyzing acedia. He describes it as the result of “activities poorly lived, without adequate motivation, without a spirituality that would permeate and make them desirable” (EG 82).

Among the various causes of acedia, the Pope identifies a particularly urgent one: the loss of real contact with people, prioritizing organization over persons. They are more enthusiastic about the “roadmap” than the actual “journey.” If we retreat into the dubious safety of the institution instead of risking the road of evangelization, we might be living what Paul calls “cowardice.”

A recurring flaw in history is the shift of maximum interest from the new proposal to the institution born from that proposal.
The Church was born from the action of the Spirit of the Risen Lord. The problem is when, within the very heart of the Church, there are powers more concerned with strength, security, finances, and global prestige than with fidelity to Jesus the Lord.

Reasonable fear can be healthy and necessary for avoiding threats. But fear that refuses to be reasoned turns into cowardice.

In the face of all types of difficulties we encounter in the mission, we need more than ever the strength, love, and self-control that Paul urges for Timothy.

It is necessary to rekindle the gift of our missionary vocation. More specifically, it is necessary to rekindle the strength given by our vows.
In particular, through the specific vow of STABILITY, “we commit ourselves to remain for life in the Congregation, dedicated to the fulfillment of its purpose…” (Constitutions, 39).

When we give in to missionary fatigue, we allow acedia, cowardice, and sterile pessimism to take root. The problem is not just the weakening of our personal vocation, but the fact that these attitudes can silently spread to the Congregation to which we belong.
In such cases, the vow of stability is not a guarantee or a treasure for the Congregation of the Mission, but a source of disease and loss. May the Lord never allow it to become a pandemic.

With the charism of Saint Vincent within us, we must also rekindle the virtues that shape the spirituality of our vocation.

We could relate the virtues Paul asks of Timothy with those demanded by our Vincentian vocation. Fr. Robert Maloney has recently and wisely updated the virtues of our Congregation.
For example, we may associate the STRENGTH Paul speaks of with the virtue our Congregation expresses as ZEAL FOR SOULS. This zeal not only aims to serve the poor with excellence but also fuels the mission of our vocational ministry.
We may also relate SELF-CONTROL to our virtue of MORTIFICATION. Today, this virtue may be difficult to accept if limited to physical or emotional aspects. However, it can be well understood and lived within the spiritual dimension. Mortification, understood as the capacity to renounce something good for the sake of something better, reveals its true value today.

Concluding this reflection, from what Paul shares with Timothy in his two letters, a clear call should resonate in our hearts: to rekindle the gift of our vocation,
and to do so with the same attitudes Paul recommends:
“Proclaim the word, be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching” (2 Tim 4:2).

Mons. Luis Solé Fa, CM