“Power is made perfect in weakness”

Today in the first reading from Holy Mass St Paul tries to teach his friends that everything…EVERYTHING relies upon GRACE…Before we explore what St Paul teaches us today, do we even believe that grace is real?…That without grace we can do NOTHING….But even if we think it’s real - How do we acquire it?….These are the ideas we need to explore…But first let’s hear the words of the great St Paul…….”A thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, to beat me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me, but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with 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”…….Paul was an infinitely gifted person…He was highly educated, born into a respected class in society…Yet, here he is speaking about his weakness - He does this to teach us that no matter who we are, we are all plagued by human weakness - We are sinners…And its ONLY through God’s grace that we can overcome our fallen human nature….And how do we receive that grace? - Through the instrument that Christ gave the world - The Church…Only in the Catholic Church can we receive Sacramental grace - The world “misses” this completely - So do many Catholics for that matter miss it……St Paul in this reading shows us he understands that God can do MUCH more with his life then he can - And for the record, Paul was VERY gifted……When we “own up” to our weaknesses - When we confess them Sacramentally to a Catholic Priest - We open ourself up to GRACE…..This is what the world “misses”….And its only through GRACE that we not only overcome our own weakness but as we are transformed, we impact the world

“Jesus Christ became poor although he was rich, so that by his poverty you might become rich”

This morning I read about St Philip Neri….Philip was an extraordinarily gifted person, who transformed the city of Rome in the 16th century….I bring him up right now because of something St Philip said…He said point blank - “There is NO WAY one can live a chaste life WITHOUT the Eucharist”…He is SPOT ON!…..Humanity refuses to “own up” to its own weakness….We “think” we “got this” as the saying goes……We underestimate the “pull” within the human heart towards what is not good for us….Again, this is why Jesus gave us the Church, which in turn gives us the Sacraments…..Do we believe that Sacramental grace can transform the world?…Based upon Mass attendance among Catholics, one can only conclude that the majority of Catholics do not…..There is a latin term used for the Blessed Sacrament - That term is viaticum, which translates to mean "provision for a journey”…….When we receive the Blessed Sacrament in the state of grace, which means we receive it free from all mortal sin (i.e. we go to Confession regularly)…We are given grace to live as Christ asked us to…..To think that somehow we can live up to the standards of Christianity, without grace is simply a “fool's errand”…This is why St Paul tells us today at Mass….“My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness”…..Its not until we “face up” to our weakness that we receive this power

“No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon”

St Paul today at Mass tells us something that is a complete contradiction from what we have been taught since we have been little children…..Paul tells us, that only when we acknowledge our weakness - Its only then that we become strong…Our world today does the exact opposite….We hide our weakness - We pretend that our flaws and faults do not exist - We rationalize away our sins….Sadly, when we do this, we never progress forward…..Why do we do this?…..Maybe it’s because we do not believe grace is real….Maybe we do not believe the Sacraments are gifts from God himself to help us….Maybe we have too much confidence in our self…..Whatever it is that holds us back, we need to face the facts - “Power is made perfect in weakness”