“When I am weak, then I am strong.”
Writing to the Corinthians, St. Paul says, “I would rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses in order that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ, for when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Cor 12:9-10). Who boasts of their weaknesses? In what way has Paul’s weaknesses made him strong?
In his Letter to the Philippians, St. Paul reminds us of all the reasons he had for boasting before he met Christ. “Circumcised on the eighth day, of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrew parentage, in observance of the law a Pharisee, in zeal I persecuted the church, in righteousness based on the Law I was blameless.” (3:5-6). Paul comes from the Chosen People of Israel with the best parentage and the best training and with the most ambition for God. Depending on where you come from, he is the person from Myers Park who went to Davidson or Chapel Hill and works for a prestigious firm, or he is from Greenwich, Conn., and went to Yale, or from Evanston, Ill., and went to Northwestern or the University of Chicago, or from Weston, Mass., and went to Harvard. Humanly, in his culture, Paul has every reason to boast. But Paul goes on to say, “Whatever gains I had, these I have come to consider as loss because of Christ. … For His sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them as so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him.” (Phil 3:7-8).
Why give up all that he had to brag about? All those things had made him proud and arrogant. He depended on himself, not on God, and so he wound up trying to foil the plans of God by persecuting the Christian community. Better to depend on Christ and in humility to seek what God wants and discern with the help of the Holy Spirit. Whatever the “thorn in the flesh” was (2 Cor 12:7), whether it was physical or moral, we do not know. Whatever it was, it kept Paul from getting proud, from acting on his own without seeking the will of God.
We should remember that Jesus Christ’s suffering and crucifixion looked like failure to the world, but it became the means of salvation. The cross is now the symbol of victory. God’s foolishness and seeming weakness was truly redeeming strength. This is why the Diocese of Austin, Texas, asks its deacon candidates to spend a weekend on the streets, homeless and penniless with only a sleeping bag. There they meet Christ often in the distressing disguise of the homeless. But they also meet some among the homeless whose faith challenges them.
This is why Pope Francis calls all of us – but especially the clergy – to go out to those on the margins where they can learn from Christ in the poor and the suffering. Beyond this, it has been true since the time of the Roman persecutions that “the blood of martyrs is the seed of faith.” This has been repeated time and again in history, as we see in the Korean martyrs, the Ugandan martyrs, the Vietnamese martyrs and others. What seems sown in weakness often yields a great harvest.
How often do people who have it all lack peace and happiness? You can only distract yourself for so long before sickness or death or an economic crisis or a pandemic or other tragedy that you cannot control finally stops you in your arrogant tracks. Like Saul on the road to Damascus, before he became Paul, will we turn to Christ and let Him into the depths of our lives? Will we live for love, not for self? Personally, I find that when I do something stupid and fall on my face, Jesus is there to lift me and wipe the mud off of my face. What can I say but that you and I are loved beyond our weaknesses and folly?
Let us pray: Lord, none of us wants to be weak. We love your cross because we aren’t on it, but you are, as a sign of your love and a call to trust in your victory. Help us to recognize how much we need you and how much you love us. Help us not to run away from our weakness or suffering but help us to turn to you that you might be strong in our weakness. Together with you all things are possible, especially forgiveness and love. Like Paul, may we one day gain Christ and be found with Him for all eternity. Amen.
Jesuit Father John Michalowski is the parochial vicar of St. Peter Church in Charlotte.