Our Vulnerabilities and Weaknesses and God's Strength and Understanding

“…[S]teadfast is his kindness toward us, and the fidelity of the Lord endures forever,” is what we pray in today’s responsorial psalm.   In the Gospel, Jesus teaches us to pray, saying “Father, hallowed (blessed, sacred, holy) be your name, your Kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins (on a daily basis, Lord)….”  In the first reading, Galatians 2: 1-2, 7-14, Paul confronts  Peter for his hypocrisy, as he stops associating with Gentiles when his fellow Jews are around, protecting himself from their criticism. In this case, Peter is unfaithful to Jesus’ example of inclusivity out of fear of his fellow Jews. This is not new behavior on Peter’s part. When the “fire got turned up” following Jesus’ arrest, Peter denies Him. When he realizes his sinfulness, Peter sobs, repents and returns to the Lord for mercy.

God is always faithful to us sinners, is always our Father, always protecting us, always loving us no matter what we do contrary to what Jesus teaches us. This past week I found myself in Peter’s place.  I was unkind, unchristian and rude toward an airline agent who communicated the news that I would not be able to get a flight home (a flight was cancelled on my outgoing business trip and now again on my return home). I reacted poorly, berating the airlines and demanding that a way be found for me to return home that night.  “I had to get home tonight,” I angrily stated. I could have avoided this escalation of my anger had I said to myself:  “It would be nice to get home tonight but that is not possible. Go and enjoy a quiet evening reading in a comfortable hotel room, enjoy a nice meal and relax.”

 As time passed and I got settled in the hotel for the night, I came face to face with my sinfulness, my infidelity to Jesus, my vulnerability to human weakness.  However, not only did I berate the airlines and speak rudely to the agent, I now began to berate myself.  Jesus’ response, once I came to Him (initially I could not pray), was:  Dorothy Ann, you do not deserve to be verbally abused (any more than did the lady working at the airlines’ Customer Service Center). Your expectation of getting home was not met. Humanly speaking you are going to feel disappointed, frustrated….Stop berating yourself. Yes, sin in you rears its head from time to time to teach you your dependence upon Me, that, without Me, left to your own devices, you will succumb to your willfulness and selfishness.  The good you do, at any time, is the Spirit at work in you. The not-so-good-- the unkindness, selfishness, stinginess, the narrow-mindedness, the impatience—is weakness in you. You are vulnerable to that weakness at any time. At all times you are in need of grace.”