The Strenght Of Weakness
Michiel Peeters - As every word God says to us, so also Jeremiah’s phrases in the first reading must “water the earth” of our experience, “making it fertile and fruitful, giving seed to the one who sows and bread to the one who [wants to eat],” to achieve the end for which God sent it, namely, our growth, our realization (Isa 55:10–11). The words proposed to us must pass through the filter of our experience to show their truth and usefulness for us and the world. Let us, therefore, first listen carefully to them: “Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings, / who seeks his strength in flesh [how weak is flesh! Think of a piece of fresh meat you leave in the fridge and then forget for a few days… we are made of that matter!], / [cursed is the one] whose heart turns away from the Lord [from what stands the test of time]. / He is like a barren bush in the desert / that enjoys no change of season, / but stands in a lava waste, / a salt and empty earth [each of us is invited to verify this in their experience, as also the following:]. / Blessed [instead] is the one who trusts in the Lord, / whose hope is the Lord [who starts each project realistically, with the realism of being made]. / He is like a tree planted beside the waters / that stretches out its roots to the stream: / it fears not the heat when it comes; / its leaves stay green; / in the year of drought it shows no distress, / but still bears fruit.”
Is Jeremiah right? Let each answer freely, but on one condition: that we do not answer in theory—because in theory, in one’s head, everyone is always right—but having verified it in our experience. Does our experience prove Jeremiah right or wrong? Are we blessed or miserable when we build on ourselves or any other man, and do we begin to breathe or to suffocate, to become ourselves or, instead more alienated, do we get younger or, instead, accelerate our ageing process when we learn to start and realize our life projects with the realism of the creature? Suppose we experience this: that life improves when it builds on God instead of flesh. Suppose we see this in experience. How can we live that more then?
By giving space to our nature, to how we are made! As Jesus says in the Gospel. For by nature, we have a poverty, a hunger, a sadness, a weakness that only something infinite can relieve: which therefore naturally lead us to God, remind us of God, make us say “You”: “You” who alone can satiate my hunger for justice, love, beauty, and truth; “You” who alone can answer to my deep nostalgy; “You” who alone can fill the abyss I am; “You” who alone know and embrace my weakness. This is why Jesus says: blessed those who are poor, hungry, sad… and woe to those who think they do not need anything, who try to arrange their lives in such a way as not to need anything. He says this because our hunger, weakness, and sadness—our “flesh”—are our resources, if we live them for what they are, the capacity nature gave us for recognizing and adhering to our destiny. Only when we live our hunger can we “recognize, admire, thank, and live Christ” who answers to it. Only when we “wield” our poverty and sadness—provoked by any impact of reality—can we truly “live” Christ in this spectacular familiarity and closeness of which John Chrysostom speaks: “He is ‘the Way,’ as we are ‘those walking on it’; He is ‘the life,’ as we are ‘the living’; He is ‘the resurrection,’ we are ‘those who revive’; He is ‘the light,’ we ‘the illuminated’: therefore, there cannot be the smallest gap between us and Christ.”
20250216 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time C (Jer 17:5-8; Lk 6:17,20-26) - (Homily by Fr Michiel Peeters, Tilburg University Chaplaincy)
The author has not revised the text and its translations.
