To boast in our weaknesses is to boast in the Lord

Folks, today I feel very close to what St. Paul the Apostle wrote on his Second Letter to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 12: 1-10):

I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell. I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say.

To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Sometimes one is blessed with particular graces and inspirations, only to fall quickly into a given personal fault or defect, leaving oneself asking in bewilderment if one is really a saint or a sinner. The answer is: both. Christianity is the only religion on earth that enshrines one's weaknesses as trophies in the path to healing, wholeness, and perfection; as milestones along the way, as stages in the ascent to God. If one begins to pay too much attention to the graces one receives from God, God sends us little remainders of who we are and how much we still must go to enjoy His vision unhindered by sin and personal weakness. This is all part of the path to Him.

This is no weak rationalization for personal sin and weakness, rather, it is a full recognition that personal sin and weakness still has a hold - albeit a fading hold - upon one and that the realities of sin, along with repentance, forgiveness, conversion, atonement, absolution, and restoration, are still to be a constant part of a Christian's faith pilgrimage. Yes, as a Christian I am saved, being saved, and hoping to saved at every present moment until my departure to Him or upon His coming, whatever comes first. Salvation is not a single moment, a single declaration of righteousness, but it comprises one's entire life and throughout life; one's sanctification before one's weaknesses. Along the way, the propensity to fall into certain sins will flicker back into existence, albeit briefly. In this way, the Lord keeps us humble.

So when you are weak, rejoice, because that's when the Lord's grace is strongest in you! That's when the Lord is working within you the hardest!