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St. Paul declares in the Second Reading today: “I will … boast most gladly of my weaknesses…” I think most of us here, if we’re being honest, would rather say, “I will boast most gladly of my strengths—my skills and talents, the things I’m good at, my successes and achievements, my positive personality traits, my virtues, and my attractive qualities. But that’s not what St. Paul says, and it’s not what he is calling us to do, either. “I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses…”
Showing our weaknesses to others, let alone boasting about them, is definitely not appealing to most of us. In our fallen human condition, we want to hide those things about us that are weak, or embarrassing, or that don’t allow us to be self-sufficient. We often view any kind of weakness in ourselves as a failure. But St. Paul tells us that our weaknesses are places where Christ can be strong in us. St. Paul was given what he called a “thorn in the flesh,” some kind of physical or spiritual weakness. He says that he begged the Lord three times about this, that it might leave him. But the Lord’s response to him was: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” Every one of us here has some kind of “thorn,” some kind of weakness in body, mind, or spirit. Maybe your thorn is a physical limitation or pain. Perhaps it is a weakness of personality or character. Maybe it’s a wound or brokenness from childhood. Maybe it’s an addiction. Whatever it is, who of us has not prayed to the Lord to remove it from our lives more than three times? But the Lord often permits the ‘thorn,’ the weakness, to remain. Why? To keep us from thinking that we can do it on our own! The Lord allows us to be weak in various ways so that we will know that we need a Savior! That thorn, that struggle, can actually become our salvation—if we let it—because it can break us out of our self-sufficiency and make room for Jesus and for other people in our hearts and in our lives. Boasting of our weakness means that we stop despising, denying, or hiding our struggles; instead, we humbly admit them and share them with God and with other people. Boasting of our weakness means renouncing shame, embracing humility, accepting our limitations, and asking for help.
Our Lord Himself chose to save the world through weakness rather than through strength. He is the God of the universe, but He chose to become a helpless baby in a dirty manger. He could move mountains, but He chose to accept the Cross and to die for us. Many people not only criticized Jesus for calling the weak to be His disciples, but also for being too weak Himself! In the Gospel today, Jesus returned to His hometown of Nazareth, and He was belittled. “Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary…? And they took offense at him.” Who is this ordinary man—they thought—to be the Messiah? He doesn’t look like much. And Jesus was “amazed at their lack of faith.” There is an important difference between Superman and Jesus. Superman conquers evil through strength. Jesus conquers evil through weakness. His strength was shown in how He dealt with weakness and suffering. Jesus was at His absolute weakest moment—nailed to the Cross—and that is when He saved the world.
You and I need to stop despising the weakness that we see in ourselves and the weakness that we see in others. Our weaknesses are what make room for God’s grace in our lives. So stop trying to hide your weakness from God and from others as if it’s a failure. Do you want to Jesus work in your life? Then boast most gladly of your weaknesses before God and man, that the power of Christ may dwell with you. Ask the Lord this question today: What would it look like for me to “boast” of my weakness rather than run from it? A big, strong man may be able to walk himself up a tall flight of stairs and reach the top all on his own, but when that man has a broken leg, he needs another to embrace him and to support him as they, together, reach the top. We need our weaknesses in order for God to have room to work in our lives, and we need them in order for other people to have room in our lives, too.
Jesus saves the world through His weakness on the Cross. And He continues to save the world by becoming so small and so vulnerable in the Eucharist. Let us—you and I—not be ashamed or afraid of our own weaknesses and vulnerabilities, but let us rather offer them to the Lord and to others as access points of grace. Let us not amaze Jesus at our lack of faith. When we are weak, then Christ can be strong.
“My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”
Total Surrender 
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