I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me.
When Paul says that he boasts about his weakness, he is not saying that he is happy giving into temptations. The apostle is happy because the power of the Lord is working through his weaknesses. Paul acknowledges that Christ gives strength to him to go beyond his foibles, beyond his individual capabilities, so that Paul may bring others the love of Christ.
Don’t we also experience the Lord working in us even despite ourselves at times? Often when people will tell me something I said to them or they heard me say in a homily that helped them, I’ll take a double take since I don’t remember and know that is the Lord at work through me—not just my aging memory—who laughed!
I also think parents experience that the most. Maybe you have sat at the dinner table and one of your children shocks you with their faith and their charity. And you recognize that this cannot be just your influence, they got it right thanks be to God! The following are excerpts from an article entitled: What I’ve Learned from my Prophetic Parents “As a child I learned that just when I get my room the way I like it, Mom makes me clean it up again. During my teen years, I learned that although it’s hard to admit it, I’m secretly glad my parents were strict with me. Later, as a parent, I’ve learned that if you want to do something positive for your children, work to improve your marriage. Lessons in mid-life: I’ve learned that making a living is not the same thing as making a life. I’ve learned that if you pursue happiness, it will elude you. But if you focus on your family, the needs of others, your work, meeting new people, and doing the very best you can to live God’s love in you, happiness will find you. I’ve learned that everyone can use a prayer. I’ve learned that it pays to believe in miracles. And to tell you the truth, I’ve seen several. I’ve learned that even when I have pains, I don’t have to be one. And I’ve learned that I still have a lot to learn if I just listen to God all around me and pray to God to give me the grace to do so.”
It takes life experience to understand and accept the wisdom and values of those parental prophetic voices in our lives! The inspiration is the same for all of us: the wisdom of God, expressed by family members, mentors, and in what we hear and read over and over in scripture. For God knows the human experience and explains our history and offers corrections so we don’t repeat mistakes; just like our parents have. In scripture the prophet is the teaching voice of God. Ezekiel and Paul, and of course our Lord never gave up in teaching values to people. We need to be reminded life is sacred and to continue to grow in our love and mercy or one another and God. They do speak of our faults and the need to improve so that we would live in that love. However, they always speak of the goodness possible in each one of us, and the need for each one of us to help the other unlock that goodness–the God-ness within. And don’t parents need to affirm the same in their children; don’t we all need to do so for one another?
We are blessed with many prophetic and affirming voices in our parish and community who speak with the holiness by their own lives as a response to God’s call for Christian witnesses. Our teachers influence the lives of children whether in our school classrooms or children’s religious education giving encouragement that leads to future development. There are many examples and many who serve in ministries and programs, never seeking credit but inspired by God and speaking for God with their actions.
They are the same voices throughout our global Church who call out to us to witness Jesus with us and in us. Those sometimes dreaded truth tellers can be thorns in the side of some people. Like our Pope, Bishops and Cardinals who are calling out to us to stand up for our American freedoms including non-interference with our religious rights.
Many may forget that our Independence Day is rooted in God. We think of “Birthday of our Nation’s” origins in terms of signing the Declaration of Independence a document developed by the “founders” of our country. However, behind the life risking declarative was a belief by many that the new nation was a promised land where God’s freedom and justice would reign and the plight of tyrannical rule would end. This was true, not only for those who were seeking religious freedom and worship of God. The gift of being a part of the New Nation included those whose motives were more about economic and/or political opportunities with their declared freedom.
One of the main “architects” of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, was known to be a deist– a belief in God based on reason rather than revelation, and involving the view that God has set the universe in motion but does not get involved with how it runs. Jefferson did not believe in the personal God of traditional Christianity, Judaism, or Islam, yet in the Declaration of Independence he wrote of the God-given rights of human persons. Let us honor those rights as we face many issues and challenges from secularism that threaten our faith and its teachings.
Let us also remember this Fourth of July Holiday to give thanks for being a part of this remarkable nation, to pray for those that continue to defend it, and for their families. God Bless America and God Bless the Roman Catholic Church and all she stands for in Christ. Fr. Gordon