PRAY ATTENTION TO YOUR WEAKNESSES

      

If you have a supervisor at work who is super-organized, everything has been outlined and there are no surprises. The staff will feel very secure.  But there is a downsize to this personality. Their great strength, their organizational skills is also their greatest weakness: they can be so hard on people whose performance does not measure up!

 

Your greatest weakness is located in your greatest strength!

 

Church is no different. We function in a liturgical church where things have been clearly worked out. People do not need to invent the wheel. Each year we pray, preach, study and apply the life and teachings of Jesus. We have our doctrines worked out in the Catechism which indicates clearly what we believe. We have organized the lines of authority through the ministry of the bishop, leader of the faithful of a particular part of the Church.

 

These are great strengths. We must never lessen their importance to the life of faith.

 

But the weakness is that too many people relegate their faith practice to  the rituals alone. The preaching church and the practicing church does not insist that we work hard to learn and integrate the teachings of Jesus into our daily lives.  We do not hear the ordinary parishioner insisting that we need more teaching and opportunities to deepen our faith. 

 

It is never sufficient to proclaim and teach the correct doctrines of the Church. We must ask ‘and how is this put into practice?’ Do the faithful of the Church give a polite nod to the more difficult  teaching of Jesus? Are they polite to the social teachings of the Church? Our weakness as Church is the neglect of listening to what is and what is not happening in the lives of the believers. 

 

We need to ask every bishop, ordained priest, religious sister and parish leaders, ‘how well are you working with your own personal weaknesses and limitations? How well are you working with the limitations of this parish community?

 

We are never going to be a completely redeemed people on earthside. We await full transformation in eternal life. But in the meantime, we must take into our hands our own limitations in responding to Jesus, Son of God.

 

Ask every person who claims to be a believer how well they are integrating God’s great love for all people into their daily lives. Do they view and treat people who are of a different skin color, a different economic and education standard, a different religion or a different ethic background as people of equal value? As people who deserve equal treatment and opportunities within their own society? 

 

We are a church of sinners. There is much in our lives that needs redemption but we come before God holding our strengths in one hand and all our weaknesses in the other. As we struggle with our weaknesses, our need for the redeeming power of Jesus Christ cries out from our bones. Our weaknesses can become our cry for redemption and transformation.

 

Neglecting our weaknesses will limit what we can do in life and in Church. 

 

When you apply the principle that your greatest strengths are your greatest weaknesses, what are you discovering?