JULY 2000

"When I am weak then I am strong."
(2 Cor 12:10)

    St. Paul writes about having received great revelations (see 2 Cor 12:1-4). But God also permitted that he suffer great trials, and one of them constantly tormented him. It might have been an illness, a chronic physical ailment, which besides being particularly annoying, hindered his activity and gave him a clear understanding of his human limitations.
      Paul had repeatedly implored the Lord to free him from this suffering. But then the reason for such a trial was
revealed to him, that is, so that the power of God could be fully manifested in weakness, for the sole purpose of leaving room for the power of Christ (see 2 Cor 12:9).
     This is why Paul could say:

"When I am weak, then I am strong."

     Human reason rebels against such a statement, because it sees it as an obvious contradiction or simply as a downright paradox. Instead, this phrase expresses one of the highest truths of the Christian faith. Jesus explains this with his life and especially with his death.
     When did he fulfill the work that the Father had entrusted to him? When did he redeem humanity? When did he
conquer sin? When he died on the cross, after having cried out: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
(Mt 27:46; Mk 15:34).
     Jesus was the strongest precisely when he was the weakest.
     Jesus could have given origin to the new people of God just by preaching, by working more miracles, or by performing some extraordinary deed.
     Instead, no. No, because the Church is the work of God, and it is in suffering and only in suffering that the works of God blossom.
     Therefore, our weakness, the experience of our fragility, conceals a unique opportunity, that of experiencing the power of Christ, dead and risen, such that we can affirm with Paul:

"When I am weak, then I am strong."

     We all have moments of weakness, frustration, and discouragement.We must endure sufferings of every kind: difficulties, painful situations, illnesses, deaths, spiritual trials, misunderstandings, temptations, failures…. What should we do? If we want to be consistent with Christianity and live it out in a radical way, we must believe that those very moments are special ones.
     Why? Because it is precisely when we feel incapable of overcoming certain trials which afflict the body and the soul—when we cannot rely on our own strength—that we are in the condition of trusting in God.
     Then, attracted by this trust, he intervenes. And when he acts, he does great things, which stand out precisely because they emerge from our smallness.
     In this light then, let us bless our smallness, our weakness, because it enables us to make room for God and to receive from him the strength to continue to believe, hoping against hope (see Rm 4:18), and to love in a concrete way to the very end.
     This is what happened to a couple in Switzerland whose son was addicted to drugs. They did not give up. They sought treatment for him everywhere, but all was in vain. One day he did not return home. They had feelings of guilt, fear, powerlessness, shame. But it was precisely in this encounter with a typical wound of our society in which they saw the countenance of Christ crucified, that gave them new strength to continue hoping and loving.
     Overcoming their sense of hopelessness, the family members felt an inner strength never experienced before. They opened themselves to others and they organized a group of families who decided to do something about the situation. They brought sandwiches and tea to the young people of the Platzspitz, known at that time as the drug hell of Zurich. One day they found their son there, worn out and ragged. With the help of these other families, he was able to begin and successfully conclude his long journey to freedom.

Chiara Lubich

The commentary to the Word of Life is translated in 90 different languages and dialects, and reaches more than 14 million people worldwide, through the press, and radio and TV programs. If you would like to read experiences of life related to this or to past "Words of Life," they can be found in Living City magazine, the monthly publication of the Focolare Movement. For information, or to subscribe, write to: Living City, P.O. Box 837, Bronx, NY 10465. A book, From Scripture to Life, containing Words of Life with commentary by Chiara Lubich and related experiences of life is available through New City Press, the publishing house of the Focolare, 202 Cardinal Road, Hyde Park, NY 12538.
To order the book or magazine, call: 1-800-462-5980. E-mail: info@newcitypress.com

© 2000 - Living City of Focolare Movement - P.O. Box 837, Bronx, New York 10465

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