Readings:
1 Corinthians 2: 1-5
Luke 4: 16-30
Reflection
In today’s first reading we hear Saint Paul at ease with his weakness and limitations. Addressing the Church at Corinth he says, “I was with you in weakness and in fear… my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom… so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of human beings but in the power of God”.
These are humbling words of Paul who lived in a deep awareness that it was not by his strength or ability he evangelised but by the power of God manifested in the work of the Spirit through him.
God’s power and wisdom gets manifested in our awareness of nothingness. The power to be compassionate comes from the courage to be vulnerable. We can understand this as we gaze on the cross. Where we stumble is where we dig for the treasure. And while we do that let us always remember the promise of God in 2 Corinthians 12: 9, “My grace is sufficient for you”.
Justin Durai Raj CP is a member of the Passionist community at St.Paul, Glen Osmond, SA.