Reflection for last Sunday, 5 July 2015

by Shirley

 

 

As I was sitting at St Mary's listening to the readings, 2 things struck me.. The first is in the 2nd reading when Paul said that while he prayed and begged the Lord that the "thorn in his flesh" be removed from him but God replies, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness." Paul then says he will rather boast gladly of his weakness, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with him, "for when I am weak, then I am strong".

 

It made me think of how our world defines a strong person and a weak person. Very often the aggressor is seen as the strong person whereas the victim is weak. This made me think of what happened when we were watching Minions the other day, when this man who was seated with his wife and kids started turning on the flashlight on his mobile phone 2-3 times, and then this other man with his girlfriend shouted very angrily from across the cinema, "Hey you! Turn that off!" and his girlfriend piped up, "It's very distracting you know!". The Asian couple looked like civilised, working professionals. We were shocked because you could clearly hear the rage in their voices and it is a kids' movie, any normal person would expect distractions in the cinema. The couple probably thought that they are the strong ones, because they voiced out their opinion but my immediate thought when that happened was, my, how ugly they sound, what happened to make them react that way? As for the father who complied and turned off his flashlight, maybe he's the stronger one now for not choosing to pick a fight in front of his family. Aggressors often act that way because that is the only way they know of to solve their problem, or they need to do that in order to feel big about themselves. Having the grace to look like a coward and know when to walk away from a fight reveals more inner strength than choosing to stay and fight.

 

So the reading made me think of being strong in weakness. It doesn't mean that when a person is seen as weak, they do not have strength in them. Circumstances, maturity and time may reveal how much stronger the weak person is and in fact how weak a seemingly strong person actually is. 

 

The 2nd thing that spoke to me was in the gospel, about how when Jesus was in his native place, his own people doubted him and because of their lack of faith, he was not able to perform any mighty deed there. He was present there and yet he was not able to perform many miracles. God could be present in our lives but because we still lack faith, He will not be able to help us. It made me think of my own life, while I believe in God, I still lack faith that my prayers will be answered, and I think I'm unworthy to receive certain blessings. It made me realise that this lack of faith is stopping God from performing miracles in my life. I used to think that I'll just let God lead my life, whatever happens, happens. But that's not true, I need to lead my own life, I need to tell God in prayer, this are my needs, this is how I want my life to be, God by your grace, please answer my prayers, I have faith. I need to believe that I am His child, that I am worthy of His gifts, and that I need to have more faith in Him because He only wants the best for His children. Like the woman who had faith and believed that as long as she touched Jesus' garment, she will be healed, and that faith saved and healed her.