Friday, June 22, 2007

Power is Made Perfect in Weakness

June 23, 2007

Saturday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

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. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them. If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith? Matthew 6:28-30

Piety

Jesus, help us to live today through you and for you. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses. Deliver us from the anxieties and worries in the world so we can enter with you into your Kingdom through serving others not our self. Amen.

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/062307.shtml

Jesus calls into question our priorities, our Ideal. In fact, he warns that pursuing financial gain or pride is not consistent with pursuing the Kingdom of God. You can’t do both yet we persist in this crazy balancing act.

Paul provides a better model. He gave in to his weakness and accepted the dichotomy. Paul was given a “thorn” in his side that reminded him of his weakness and Paul prayed for Jesus to take it away. However, his petition is denied; release from physical discomfort and healing are withheld for a higher spiritual purpose.

Paul knew that the power and glory belonged to God. “When I am weak, then I am strong.” Paul recognizes a twofold pattern in the resolution of the tension that exists between two conflicting forces such as weakness-power or death-life. The first is personal, involving a reversal in oneself and the other is apostolic, involving an effect on others.

Jesus does not deny the reality of human needs. However, he encourages the disciples not to overly worry about these needs.

How often do we become obsessed about our hairstyle, our clothes, the car we drive or the neighborhood we live in? How much time is wasted worrying about going to the “right school” or landing the perfect job?

Instead, Jesus reverses human logic once again. He turns the popular Maslow’s hierarchy of needs upside down.

For background, according to Wikipedia, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is a theory in psychology that Abraham Maslow proposed in his 1943 paper A Theory of Human Motivation. His theory contended that as humans meet 'basic needs', they seek to satisfy successively 'higher needs' that occupy a set hierarchy.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is often depicted as a pyramid consisting of five levels: the four lower levels are grouped together as deficiency needs associated with physiological needs, while the top level is termed growth needs associated with psychological needs. While deficiency needs must be met, growth needs are the need for personal growth. The basic concept is that the higher needs in this hierarchy only come into focus once all the needs that are lower down in the pyramid are mainly or entirely satisfied. Once an individual has moved past a level, those needs will no longer be prioritized. However, if a lower set of needs is continually unmet for an extended period of time, the individual will temporarily re-prioritize those needs - dropping down to that level until those lower needs are reasonably satisfied again. Innate growth forces constantly create upward movement in the hierarchy unless basic needs remain unmet indefinitely.[1]

Jesus turns this pyramid on it point. Instead of following our instincts and plans, Jesus instead wants us to follow God’s plans for the salvation of the human race and for our own personal growth and fulfillment.

But seek first the kingdom (of God) and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides. Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil. Matthew 6:33-34

Action

“Sufficient for a day is its own evil.”

If we have enough for one day, we might forget to pray to God and ask for what we need or thank God for what God has provided. It also could make us lazy in our prayer life about what we need to do in looking to the future. It is not that tomorrow is unimportant but that it always threatens to capture us and take us away from today.

Perhaps you might be thinking, after a week of reading Matthew and 2 Corinthians, that this Christianity is a strange religion. How can it be so attractive to Americans who have so many nice creature comforts? Everyone reading this is probably sleeping in a comfortable bed tonight, not on a park bench or heating grate. Everyone is able to get around on Metro or in the family car instead of walking. Still others are planning or taking a summer vacation while many others are still looking for a job.

Set up a mini-challenge. Can you get through today with less than is sufficient – with fewer of your creature comforts? During Lent we often fast and abstain and give alms. What about extending that practice into “ordinary” time? Can you get through today with two meals, instead of three? Can you make a special charitable contribution? Can you add some extra prayers to your routine?

These might be some of the first steps along the way to seeking first the Kingdom of God rather than seeking to meet our own physical needs.




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