In today's first reading, 1 Cor 1:26-31, St. Paul reminds us that we are "in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, so that, as it is written, Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord." We enjoy this privilege because God chose us to be " in Christ Jesus."
Why have we been chosen? Not because, Paul reminds us, of our noble birth, our wisdom, our strength but because of our lack of nobility, wisdom, and strength. We have been chosen because of our weakness, our foolishness, and our lowly birth. All we have to boast about is Christ Jesus, who is our savior, sanctifier and wisdom. Apart from Christ, all we would have or be is a person lacking wisdom, lacking strength, and lacking nobility.
Let us not focus on who we would be outside of Christ because you and I, because of our baptism, are in Christ Jesus. We live in Christ Jesus through the grace of our baptism, a grace given to most of us as infants! We are part of the royalty of the Trinity. We belong to the family of God and are citizens of heaven.
Why did God give us lowly, weak, foolish persons this grace? St. Paul says that God choose "the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something, so that no human being might boast before God."
God alone is wise and we are wise in God and in no other and especially not in oneself. God alone is righteous and we are so in God, in Christ Jesus. God alone is holy and we are holy in God. God alone is our redeemer, no one else or nothing else and definitely not ourselves!
Praise the God who saves us, sanctifies us, and makes us righteous before Him through Christ Jesus, His only begotten Son!
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