The second
reading for today is written by a troubled man. The reading itself is troubling
for us. In St. Paul’s Second Letter to
the Corinthians, he writes about a thorn in the flesh that he suffered
from. Three times he begged the Lord to
remove this from Him. But all he heard
was the Lord saying, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect
in weakness.” What was it that was
upsetting St. Paul so much? People have
speculated over the years, but we have no way of knowing. Whatever it was, it was significant for
Paul. It could not have been something
as minor as a speech impediment as some have speculated. Nor could it have been his caustic temper. It
was something far more personal and even more severe. It probably kept him awake at night[1].
It
is troubling for us to think about the great St. Paul have a major personal
problem. Even in our cynical age, we
still want to turn our saints into perfect little plastic statues. But people
are not perfect, and even the greatest of the saints were people like you and
me, continually fitting our own tendencies to sin.
The
voice of the Lord told Paul that His Power, the Lord’s Power, is made perfect
in weakness. It was clear to Paul that the wonders of the Lord that took place
through his ministry only occurred because God was working through him. He went on to write I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me[2].
It
is easy for people to get so bogged down with their own conception of what the
minister of the Lord should be like that they miss the Word of God. It is also
easy for all of us to get so bogged down with the recognition of our own
sinfulness that we refuse to allow the Lord to use us for others.
We
often make the same mistake. Some people seem too ordinary to us to be vehicles
of God’s truth. They may be our parents or our children, our neighbors or our
companions at work or school. They proclaim a reality that could change our
lives, but we don’t want to hear it. Who
does he think he is? Who does she think
she is? We get so bogged down in the
humanity of the proclaimer that we refuse to listen to the proclamation.
Perhaps
what is even worse is when we are so overwhelmed with our own sinfulness that
we refrain from proclaiming the Lord.
Some adults’ views of themselves are such a negative way that they
refuse to lead their children properly. “Who am I to tell my child not to do
this or that, when I know that I often do things far worse.” And the Word of
God is not proclaimed. And children
think that they have implicit approval from their parents to do things their
parents do not discuss.
Paul
was told that Christ’s power is made perfect in his weakness. Paul realized that it was God working through
him that brought so many people to the faith.
Christ’s power also works through us.
We really don’t have the right to deny our responsibility to the Lord. We
may think that we are not good enough to talk about the Lord, but we are good
enough. He makes us good enough. Furthermore, the positive effects of what we
say come from the Lord, not from us.
So
we come before the Lord today and say with St. Peter, St. Paul and so many of
the saints, “I am sinful, I can’t do your work” and Jesus says, “Yes you can. My
power will work through you in ways greater than you can ever realize. And you
will know that it is me working, not you.
My power is made perfect in your weakness.” •
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