Supermen for God

It is thrilling to consider that we have a personal relationship with the One who is all-powerful: the Creator of all things, the Lord of the Universe.

We read God’s promises to us in Scripture and we feel a great upwelling of confidence within us.

We imagine ourselves walking mightily through the streets of the city like Peter the Apostle: miraculous power flowing out from us left and right, thousands being enthralled by our words and converting to Jesus Christ in a single day. Glory! Glory!

But things don’t usually turn out that way for us.

Actually, even for the Apostles themselves, not every day was a day of miracles and awe; many days were just plain awful.

We get a taste of that in today’s first reading (2 Cor. 4:7-15) as St. Paul tells the Corinthians what life is like for him as an Apostle. It is very different from the cartoon-like image of Apostles as being Supermen for God. It is also different from the St. Louis Jesuits’ confection “Earthen Vessels” (based somewhat loosely on this passage).

In fact, St. Paul’s words sound very much like the last days of the great Pope John Paul II.

We are afflicted in every way,
but not constrained;
perplexed,
but not driven to despair;
persecuted,
but not abandoned;
struck down,
but not destroyed;
always carrying about in the body
the dying of Jesus,
so that the life of Jesus
may also be manifested in our body.

For we who live
are constantly being given up to death
for the sake of Jesus,
so that the life of Jesus
may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

Sometimes it is very easy for us to become discouraged. Sometimes we feel as useless as dirt.

The message of St. Paul is clear:

We hold this treasure in earthen vessels,
that the surpassing power may be of God
and not from us.

All of us, even the mightiest of Apostles and Popes, are finite human beings, but it's not about us: it's about God.

What we believe is not the concoction of clever men. The holiness we desire is not simply the rectitude of the strong-willed. The glory to be revealed in us far surpasses the fleeting splendor of riches and celebrity.

What we believe, what we seek, what we do is the work of grace: the undeserved gift of God, of Infinity and Eternity itself in and through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We are not supermen, we are often feeble and fragile, but through us, by the grace of Christ, the omnipotence and wisdom of God is to shine.