Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time -
a reflection by Fr. Leo
What does it mean to be strong? What does it mean to be weak? Depending on the situation, the meaning of those words depends upon what side of an issue you are on. We may see a winning team as strong and the losers as weak. We fist-wave with victory and boo the losers. The rich person is often seen as strong, unless your Donald Trump, and the poor person is usually seen as week, unless your a Mother Theresa. So what makes for strength, what makes for weakness?
For myself I see a life lived on the foundation of the universal truth, which is embedded in every human heart, as being the life of a strong person. Every prophet lives this out. Often poor and homeless, the prophet speaks to a truth that cannot be denied but when heard by some, is rationalized into it’s opposite. Like Jesus being referred to as the devil. For me Jesus was the strong one, enduring hatred for teaching a way of love. The weak are those who need to demonize what they don’t like and by doing so try to remove it from their lives. These people may appear strong, but for me they are the weak.
St. Paul speaks of his own true weakness, but tells how it was the avenue to greatness as Christ made him perfect, not himself. From Paul we learn it is okay to be weak and imperfect. What matters is what God can accomplish through us. So Paul had to abandon the idea of some kind of personal perfection and rely on the grace of God. I love it when he admits that it is when he is weak, that he is strong. Paul could endure his trials because of his love for the truth and the freedom the Gospel brought to those who embraced it. Christianity isn’t about being powerful, it is about being loving. Christianity isn’t about being better than everyone else, it is about being one-with everyone else. Embracing this way of thinking and living turns things on it head. It makes looking at the bumper sticker, “My child is an honor student,” obnoxious. Wouldn’t we rather have a sticker that read, “My Child plays well with others.”
Think about this paradox this week. Question what you see, read and hear. What kind of strength or weakness is implied and ask yourself if it is the strength or weakness of the Gospel?