I don’t know about you, but there are moments when I am deeply aware of my weaknesses. These moments can be discouraging, and sometimes even frightening, because I become acutely aware of how capable I am of choosing sin over virtue, selfishness over selfless love, myself over the Lord.
Our weaknesses can overwhelm us with a feeling of inadequacy. When we experience weakness we may be tempted to pray, Lord, I simply can’t do it; I can’t live a holy life.
But there is good news about our weaknesses: it is from the depths of our weaknesses that we can experience a profound flourishing of holiness in our lives. We must, then, learn to love our weaknesses.
What do I mean?
St. Paul, who lived a very holy life, wrote, “for when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10). How could he say that? How can we simultaneously be weak and strong? They seem to be opposites. But this is not true in the spiritual life. It is precisely in weakness that we can experience the tremendous power of Christ dwelling in us.
To experience the strength of weakness we must first learn to change the way we think about our weaknesses. Instead of seeing our weaknesses as stumbling blocks to progress in holiness, we must learn to see our weaknesses as the very way to holiness. For it is precisely in our weakness where Jesus desires to meet and embrace us. The way to holiness is not to suppress or deny our weaknesses; the way to holiness is to learn to acknowledge our weaknesses and to speak very openly with the Lord about them. In other words, we must learn to pray out of our weaknesses.
I want to be clear: I am not saying that we should love our sin. Weakness and sin are distinct. Weakness is the inclination to sin, an effect of original sin; sin is when we consciously feed or give in to that inclination. Progress in holiness comes when we experience the inclination to sin, but at that very moment we choose to enter the embrace of Christ rather than embrace the sin. This is when we experience true strength, liberation, and peace.
Allow me to make this more concrete. We all have moments of temptation in our lives or moments when we simply feel weak, tired, or vulnerable. I invite you to take a moment now to think of a recent experience when you felt this way. What was the temptation? What were your thoughts? What were you feeling in your heart?
These moments can be profound experiences of God’s grace if we turn to prayer. Instead of wallowing in our weakness and wishing it away, instead of choosing to go deeper into our weakness and eventually into self-pity, we can choose to see our weakness as an opportunity to unite ourselves very deeply to the Lord. At that moment we can open ourselves to the Lord and pray:
Lord, I feel very weak right now. I feel very inadequate and very vulnerable to sin and temptation. Jesus, at this moment I invite You right inside of my heart where this weakness dwells. I invite You INTO my weakness. You have allowed this weakness so that I can experience Your strength and power. This weakness is the very space where You desire to come to dwell in me with Your power. This weakness is a tremendous gift because it invites me to reach out to You. This weakness is a grace because instead of feeding it by embracing sin, I now see it as Your desire to embrace me. This weakness is the cry of my heart to be in Your embrace. This weakness is Your way of inviting me to draw very close to You. Thank you for this weakness and for your power in me.
Remember, to the human eye, the crucifixion of Jesus seemed to be a moment of weakness and defeat. However, in faith, we know that it was the moment that Christ redeemed us from our sins. So, the next time you are experiencing weakness, don’t see it as an obstacle to holiness; see it as your WAY to holiness. Don’t see weakness as a barrier to holiness; see it as an invitation from the Lord to enter into his embrace. For the Lord says to us as He said to St. Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9)
I think that, when we give in to our weakness, the temptation is to think, “I’m only human.” While it’s a factual statement, as I’ve gotten older, I now think it’s a bit of an insult to all humans. I believe that we have the capacity to be extraordinary; Gandhi (whose birthday happens to be today!) or even Dr. Paul Farmer come to mind…
No, I don’t think we all need to start a non-violence movement or provide health care for the poorest of the poor. But yes, I think that humans have it in us not only to resist but also to turn weakness into something good…
Amen to that Belinda! We do have the capacity to resist weakness. My point was that sometimes we can allow weakness to discourage us, but we should allow our weaknesses to lead us to deeper prayer. Weakness can be turned into good; in fact, that it’s exactly what the saints teach us. Thanks for reading!
Father,
Found your blog a couple of days ago, and have been reading a few posts each day. Thank you so much for sharing, it is making a difference to me, and I will read here as long as you are willing to write.
All Things Good.
Nathan,
Thanks so much for reading and for your kind words. Pray for me so that I can live what I write about! And be assured of my prayers for you.
Peace!
Hello my brother, Fr. Michael,
Scott Carpentier connected me to your blog and I’m glad I’ve come. I hope you are doing well and hope our paths cross down the line…we Vocation directors need to stick together!
Thanks for your beautiful post. I especially was blessed by your prayer…to invite the Lord into our weakness. Very beautiful because it is true! I’ve heard it said that our wounds are the openings for the Lord’s glory to be manifest. May we be open to the Lord working in our vulnerability.
Thank you Mike, know of my prayers for you.
your brother in Christ,
Fr. Jonathan, T.O.R.
Fr. Jonathan!
Great to hear from you, and thanks for reading my blog. Feel free to spread the word. Please be assured of my prayers for you in the important work of vocation ministry. Yes, we vocation directors do need to stick together…and pray for one another.
Peace!
Wow, Fr. Mike, I needed to read this so much today, especially that beautiful prayer. Your blog is awesome… and I’m telling all my friends about it! We could all use these reminders as we strive for holiness. God definitely gave you a gift – - thanks for sharing it with us!
As always, you and your ministries are lifted up in my prayers!
God bless you,
Lindsay
Thanks so much for your kind words Lindsay! I appreciate you spreading the word about my blog.
Peace!
Hello:
from the depths of our weaknesses that we can experience a profound flourishing of holiness in our lives.
Wow that;s a way to find the Loed, I have never thought of it that way, thank you
bless!
Yes, we need to invite Him into our weakness, and it’s then that we can experience that flourishing of holiness. Thanks for reading, and I’m happy you found it helpful.
Peace!
Dear Father,
I recently came across your blog and it is wonderful. My husband passed away in June of this year after nearly 50 years of marriage. I was so dependent on him for so many things that I certainly was feeling very weak. I feel so blessed that I have found you – it is as if I have my own spiritual director.
Blessings!
Phyllis
Phyllis,
I’m so happy that you find my blog helpful. Please know that I will remember your husband in prayer, and I will pray that you continue to find peace and strength in the Lord.
Peace!
Fr. Michael Najim http://www.catholicpriest.com
Sent from my iPhone
What else is there to offer our Lord… but our weaknesses. Personally…I have NOTHING else to give Him.
Bless and thank You, Fr. This is an incredible and profound article. I feel so ministered to thru it.
HS
Thanks so much, Father. What a beautiful gift to see my weakness as the way to be embraced more deeplu by Jesus.
This time, I copied your prayer with pen and paper because I want to save it and share it with my students.
I’m so grateful for all that Jesus gives through you.
I agree totally with this site. Let me add a few more thoughts. There is great difference between sin and weakness. Sin and weakness have a reversible relationship. Weakness can lead to sin. The opposite is also true: Sin can also lead to weakness.
Weakness is the tendency to sin.
Sin occurs when:
1. one hatches that tendency
2. one hatches a devilish advice (which was not a weakness at all-previously)
In the second case above, sin, when continued over time becomes a weakness.
One of the periods in which God remembers us is in our weaknesses. The Psalmist said “He remembered us in our weakness….” Ps 136:23a
God does not only remember us in our weaknesses.
God’s power is made perfect in weaknesses too. But God’s power is not made perfect in sin. In fact, I believe God’s power departs in sin. When should we rejoice then, in sin or in weakness? Seeing that the power of God is brooding whenever a weakness is experienced, then we must be express all joys at our moments of weakness that we might experience unleashed power from the corridors of eternity. This is what Paul expresses in 2Cor 12:9-11 “…My (Jesus’) power works best in weakness. So now, I am glad to boast about my weakness, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That is why I take pleasure in my weakness…” NLT
AMEN AMEN !!!!!! That helped me a lot today. To learn about my weakness. I know got that god is helping me too get strong
Hallo Father;
Thanks alot for the blog. I like it. I have a weakness of telling lies most of the time. Currently i try to avoid it but the moment someone ask me a question about a lie i previously said i am affected and feel pity and shame for myself.What can i do?
How can i turn this completely to help me grow in holiness.
Florah