We marvel at the fortifications of ancient cities and the walls used to protected them. In our own time, we love the muscle car growling with unrestrained horsepower and the skyscraper towering at unbelievable heights. We long to be strong and powerful, an impenetrable fortress of solid rock. We even venerate martyrs who fearlessly stood up to emperors and stared hungry lions in the eyes without flinching. With metrics of strength all around us, we often judge ourselves by our resilience, by our accomplishments, our ability to persevere till the end. In spite of all our longing to be powerful, we are constantly confronted with our weaknesses.
St. Paul loathed weakness as a thorn in his side and he prayed three times that it would be taken from him (2 Cor 12:7-8). Like him, we disdain weakness as a deficiency, an evil that we must despise, and ultimately overcome; yet somehow, despite our greatest efforts, our weaknesses seem to persist. How did the martyrs live such a heroic witness, and we can barely keep our hands out of the cookie jar? We call out like St. Paul for it to go away, but the weakness remains as a thorn in our side.
In his struggle, St. Paul learned something invaluable for us to reflect on: “God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong” (1 Cor 1:27). We tend to look at the last days of a saint’s life and think they were born that way. We see their final heroic witness, in the Colosseum, the starvation chamber or the guillotine, but fail to see how they got there.
The prophet Jeremiah lamented his prophetic calling saying, “Ah, Lord God! I do not know how to speak. I am too young” (Jer 1:6), but he became one of the greatest prophets. King David began as a youth with a slingshot against the giant Philistine, but he became the greatest king of Israel. Matthew was a tax collector, despised by everyone, but was called to be an apostle and to write a Gospel. St. Augustine started as a man unable to control his lustful passions but became one of the greatest theologians the church has ever known.
The most impossible transformations have happened in the lives of the saints and God’s words to St. Paul continue to resonate to this day, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9). The saints all witness to this one fact that holiness is a gift from God, it is his power made perfect in our weakness. St. Therese of Lisieux in a letter to her sister summarizes this truth beautifully, “When, in the morning, we feel no courage or strength for the practice of virtue, it is really a grace: it is the time to ‘lay the axe to the root of the tree,’ relying upon Jesus alone.” It is only when we surrender in our weakness that God’s power can begin to transform us into the saints he needs for the church.
Many young people feel a strong pull toward priesthood and religious life but stop discerning this call because they see their list of weaknesses as much longer than the list of their strengths. They echo the words of Jeremiah and every other saint that they are too weak to follow so closely to the heart of Jesus. God loves to do what is impossible for man; he loves to raise up saints from sinners. If you are feeling a mysterious call to be a priest or a consecrated religious, rejoice in your weakness because God wants to be your strength.
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If you think God might be calling you, take courage. Contact your parish priest or me, the vocations director, at [email protected] or 703/841-2514.
Corpus Christi