Unconquerable Weakness

St Paul makes much of weakness.

In 1 Cor 1:25 he makes the famous statement "the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength." This verse comes at the end of a short section on how the wisdom of God seems to be foolishness to men.

Again, in 2 Cor 16-29, St Paul enumerates the times when he was persecuted, beaten, and suffered at the hands of men and in natural hardships. In this he explains that these show his weakness. He does not fight them but endures them. What is extraordinary is that he then boasts of his weakness (cf v.30).

Finally he ties this to Christ in 2 Cor 13:4, who "was crucified out of weakness, but he lives by the power of God. So also we are weak in him, but toward you we shall live with him by the power of God."

There is a paradoxical relationship between strength and weakness in St Paul's letters. At first glance, it seems as if it were a simple comparison between the human and the divine.  The divine is just a bigger version of the human.  Hence the weakness of God is stronger than the strength of man. So then in Paul's list of hardships, he is weak, The list of hardships continue to demonstrate this weakness, but why would he then boast of them? Christ dies in weakness?  Where is the power of God in that?

One may ask if a Christian should simply expect no earthly rescue by God. It's just that God is really powerful and we are not. Christians are not allowed to fight back so we just have to suck it up and take it. Even Jesus himself had to simply let himself be killed.

I will suggest that this weakness is not something inflicted upon Paul but an impenetrable shield for his defense. The reason speaks to how the devil works. To quote Tolkien, "the Shadow can only mock, it cannot make." Evil corrupts. All sin is a corruption of something good. Worldly power, therefore, is a handle by which the devil can grasp to use against us.

What then is our protection against this corruption?  Weakness. Weakness is the only thing that evil cannot corrupt. It has nothing to grasp us by. This weakness is related to kenosis, the self-emptying St Paul speaks of in Philippians 2:7.  Self-emptying means ridding ourselves of pride, it means a true humility, a realization that to God alone belongs the victory, even when furthered by our own efforts. Most importantly, it is a radical dependence upon God and his providence.

This radical dependence appears from the outside to be weakness, but upon it we can safely rely for invincible protection.

What is a Sacrifice?

At the beginning of each new month I review my notes from the previous month’s issue of Magnificat. Each day’s meditation, found after the daily Mass readings, offers some big-time wisdom from some big-time Catholic thinkers from every Christian century. I’m often astounded by how a seemingly difficult topic can be made simple. Here is a case in point about sacrifice triggered by the untainted mind of a child, but noticed and written about by Caryll Houselander.

“A girl of eleven, asked to teach a child of four to ‘make a sacrifice’, taught him to make the Sign of the Cross. Asked why this should be a sacrifice, she answered with supreme wisdom, ‘Because for a little minute he gives all of himself to God.’ For a little minute the child stops jumping and shouting, he stands still, puts his feet together, uses his mind and his hands and his voice for his Sign of the Cross. He is offering himself to give honor to God...”

The Sign of the Cross

1. Motion to the head (motion to the intellect): Do we truly sacrifice our personal agenda for Truth? Do we sacrifice what we want to be true for what actually IS true? When alone, where do our idle thoughts go? This too reflects our state of mind.
2. Motion to the heart (motion to the will): Since true love involves an act of the will, do we sacrifice our own will for the will of God? Do we sacrifice our own good for the good of the “other”?
3. Motion to our left: In scripture, the “left” can symbolize what is undesirable or weak. How well do we offer up our challenges, difficulties and weaknesses to God and His mercy? How often do we frequent the sacrament of reconciliation?
4. Motion to our right: In scripture the “right” can symbolize what is desirable or strong. Do we offer the gifts we have received back to God? Where and how do we spend our time and our money?

The sign of our faith is the Sign of the Cross and the sign of true sacrifice.

                             

Sacrifice and the Greater Good

Today on relevant Radio, I listened for a short time and heard Fr Rocky answer a question regarding the difference between the heart, spirit and soul in relation to the body and mind.

He deftly gave the clear Thomist answers but then took it a step further.  He said that the soul (or spirit) is the differentiator that gives humans reason and free will.  Two of the faculties of the soul are the intellect (mind) and the will (often synonymous with the heart).


(Here is the archive link.)

Here's where he develops it further.  Religions usually contain some form of sacrifice.  As we look at religion with all its varied acts of sacrifice, the highest sacrifice is the Sacrifice of the Mass.

As Catholics we employ sacrifice all the time.  Fasting is the sacrifice of the body desire to eat.  Celibacy is the sacrifice of the sexual urge.  These sacrifices exercise our self-control.






How does this relate to the Will and the Intellect?

The sacrifice of the Intellect is Faith.  The Intellect is the striving to know.  To discover and to contain all it can find.  It is a temptation of the Intellect to believe ONLY what it can apprehend (through the senses).  Conversely, the logical fallacy is that if it is not sensible, then it does not exist.   Faith then, is letting go of knowing only what I can perceive.  It is the accepting of knowledge GIVEN to me rather than acquired by me.  It is other-centered and trust-based.

The sacrifice of the Will is Obedience.  The Will is the choice maker, the part of me that decides whether to do this or that.  The temptation of the Will is to be the captain of my own destiny.  To decide that MY wishes are the ends towards which the whole world ought to work.   Obedience then, is the letting go of my wants and desires.  To act as if another's wishes are actually mine.  To make their goals, my goals and their tasks, mine.  Again, it is other-centered and trust-based.

The sacrifice of the Heart is Love.  Since Love is a decision, you love from the Will.  You decide whether to love someone or not.  The temptation is to treat love as an emotion and love when you feel like it and refrain from loving when you do not.  Love then, is the letting go of whether the person is lovable, and loving them anyway.  Deciding to act loving when it's not merited, deserved or even wanted is to truly Love.


What I see from this wonderful insight is that the act of sacrificing something is an indicator of the intrinsic value of the thing sacrificed.  Food, sex, knowledge and choice, are all powerful and GOOD.  Practicing the sacrifice of them makes us better, and orients us toward the ultimate Good, God.