Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Tuesday of the First Week of Lent
February 27, 2007
“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted”
Psalm 34:18
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You gotta be a little cracked for the light to get in! So, it follows that you gotta be a lot cracked to let a lot of light in. How much light do we want?
I am the youngest of eight boys. It takes a lot of food to feed eight boys. Sometimes the food would run short and there would be “disputes” over who would get what. One time there was a “dispute’ between my two oldest brothers over the last potato chip. Who would get it? My oldest brother came to a quick solution. He made a fist and smashed the chip into many, many pieces. Now there were many, many “little chips” to be shared because the “big chip” was cracked into many “little chips”.
How about considering out lives as potato chips? You and I are “big chips.” But, as “big chips” we do not want to be cracked. Don’t show any cracks in the armor. Do not be weak. Do not be vulnerable. Do not show you are broken and act like you have your act all together. And this “uncrackness” is all such a sham and lie!
Think of how St. Peter was like a cracked potato chip. Peter did not even know how to be a fisher of men and Christ not only wanted him to do that but to have the authority of being the first shepherd of the church. Fr. George Montague comments on how Peter allowed himself to be cracked open for the world, “Peter told and retold the story of his own weakness and how the Lord touched him. When Peter preached, he preached from his weakness with the power of God. And that is what converted the Roman world and that is what will convert us, and the people around us if they see the power of God has touched us.” (Manning, “Stranger to Self Hatred” pg. 36)
The choice is before us. To be a big chip that acts like it has got it all together. To be a liar, sham and fraud. No cracks and no light getting in to feed and fill with eternal, overflowing power. To be “uncracked” thus to die without the power of God. Or to forsake the sham and the lie and to say we are who we are.
Be honest and be cracked. The more cracked we are, the more light gets in. The more light gets in, the more we can feed the others. The more pieces we are broken into before the Lord, the more people we can feed. Just like St. Peter, we tell and retell the story of how God has touched us in our weakness with his almighty power. And that is the conversion that will convert the world. And that conversion is what this world is desperate for.
Live the confronted life!
+Fr. John
I am the youngest of eight boys. It takes a lot of food to feed eight boys. Sometimes the food would run short and there would be “disputes” over who would get what. One time there was a “dispute’ between my two oldest brothers over the last potato chip. Who would get it? My oldest brother came to a quick solution. He made a fist and smashed the chip into many, many pieces. Now there were many, many “little chips” to be shared because the “big chip” was cracked into many “little chips”.
How about considering out lives as potato chips? You and I are “big chips.” But, as “big chips” we do not want to be cracked. Don’t show any cracks in the armor. Do not be weak. Do not be vulnerable. Do not show you are broken and act like you have your act all together. And this “uncrackness” is all such a sham and lie!
Think of how St. Peter was like a cracked potato chip. Peter did not even know how to be a fisher of men and Christ not only wanted him to do that but to have the authority of being the first shepherd of the church. Fr. George Montague comments on how Peter allowed himself to be cracked open for the world, “Peter told and retold the story of his own weakness and how the Lord touched him. When Peter preached, he preached from his weakness with the power of God. And that is what converted the Roman world and that is what will convert us, and the people around us if they see the power of God has touched us.” (Manning, “Stranger to Self Hatred” pg. 36)
The choice is before us. To be a big chip that acts like it has got it all together. To be a liar, sham and fraud. No cracks and no light getting in to feed and fill with eternal, overflowing power. To be “uncracked” thus to die without the power of God. Or to forsake the sham and the lie and to say we are who we are.
Be honest and be cracked. The more cracked we are, the more light gets in. The more light gets in, the more we can feed the others. The more pieces we are broken into before the Lord, the more people we can feed. Just like St. Peter, we tell and retell the story of how God has touched us in our weakness with his almighty power. And that is the conversion that will convert the world. And that conversion is what this world is desperate for.
Live the confronted life!
+Fr. John
posted by Patti @ 12:29 PM
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