WE ARE SO IMPERFECT

Know your roots. Know where you come from!

 

On June 29 we celebrate the feast of Peter and Paul. They are part of the founding members of Christianity. Could there be two more opposite men on the face of the earth?

 

Peter was one of the very close disciples of Jesus, but we know that when Jesus as taken as prisoner, Peter denied ever having known him. He was protecting his own skin. He failed under pressure. 

 

Paul was a very strict and devout Jew. He was involved in trying to stamp out what he was convinced was false religion: there were people who claimed that Jesus was the Son of God and was alive, risen among them. 

 

Both men had their confrontation  with the risen Jesus. Peter was forgiven and given the ministry to “ feed my sheep.” Paul was confronted by the risen Jesus who clearly identified that the very people he was arresting and persecuting turned out to be the persecution of Jesus. 

 

But they were such imperfect human beings !

 

Today pay attention to the workings of God. He calls such imperfect people. They are flawed. But that is where the mystery of God is working. He has chosen the weak and powerless of this world to do his work We have only to think of the prayer of the young woman, Mary, when she accepts to be Mother. In her Magnifcat she proclaims, “He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly.” (Lk. 1,52)

 

God’s way is to call the little ones, the ordinary ones, to share in his work of salvation. But these little ones can be so imperfect!

 

Christians are often criticized for not living up the  standards of the Gospel. They fall very short of living the life that Jesus outlined. And that is very true.

 

In our Church communities the most difficult thing to believe is “that God is actually working in that person!” “But she is so unpredictable with her alcohol addiction. She drinks too much!”  All of this is true. But it is at this point that the mystery of God hits the pavement. God works with flawed human beings to bring about the revelation of God’s goodness. 

 

If you  have difficulty with people in the parish community, turn back to our roots. The first disciples, the roots of our Christianity, were such flawed human beings.  Their co-believers had many issues to deal with them.

 

The gift of this feast of Peter and Paul is to root us in the imperfection of the disciples of Jesus. It can help us work though many of the difficulties that our fellow parishioners bring. We are such an imperfect people but these are he people that God has chosen to be his co-workers.