Communion
-
February 1, 2023God chose the weak
and the despised of this world
the shame the strong.
I Corinthians 1:27
A Homily for the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Ever try to convince someone that they are important when they’re convinced they aren’t worth the time of day?
I once read a story about a 9-year-old boy who comes home from school, stomps off to his room and slams the door.
Later, at supper, he stares at his plate. He doesn’t talk. He won’t smile. His dad starts asking questions. The kid shrugs. The father presses him: “Talk to me, son.” The boy crosses his arms. His dad presses harder: “I said, ‘Talk to me!’”
That’s when the dam breaks. This otherwise happy, confident kid breaks down and tells his dad about the bullies who cornered him in the locker room, shoved him against the wall and told he better start watching his back.
For a moment, the dad doesn’t know what to say. He sees a bright, good-looking kid, but the boy sees himself as weak and pitiful. The father says to himself, If only he could see himself through my eyes.
He reaches over and tussles the boy’s hair. “Son, you are such a blessing to our family. We love you.” But the boy can’t see it and there is nothing that his father can say to convince him otherwise.***Can you imagine God feeling that way about you?
Again and again in the Gospel, Christ seeks out the outcast, the lame, the sinner, the leper and says, “You are forgiven! You are healed! You are mine!” St. Paul reminds us that God chooses the weak.
Ever wonder why? Why does God choose the weak and despised of the world?
It is because the weak know something that the strong do not know. The weak know something that the powerful will never understand:
The weak know that Love is like the silence of a husband holding the hand of his wife in a hospital room. The weak know that Love is comforting a frightened child in the middle of the night. The weak know that Love is enduring insults from people who will never acknowledge or apologize for the damage they inflict.
If you are counted among the weak, then you know that Love is as fragile as a piece of bread in your hand. And as strong as the taste of blood on your lip. The blood of Christ. Christ’s own blood on your lip.
