FOURTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, JULY 2024

The Disciples Peter and John Running to the Tomb on the Morning of the Resurrection by Eugène Burnand, 1898

MASS READINGS

Reading 2 2 Cor 12:7-10

Brothers and sisters:

That I, Paul, might not become too elated,

because of the abundance of the revelations,

a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan,

to beat me, to keep me from being too elated.

Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me,

but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you,

for power is made perfect in weakness.”

I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses,

in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me.

Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults,

hardships, persecutions, and constraints,

for the sake of Christ;

for when I am weak, then I am strong.

REFLECTION

"A thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, to beat me, to keep me from being too elated."

When you go to confession, do you confess a new sin every time? or do you confess the same thing over and over?

As creatures of habit, we all commit habitual sins. Might as we try, we keep failing. We plead to God to help us overcome our fault, and might succeed for a while. And then sin again. And will go to confess the same thing, yet again.

Even St. Paul tells us about this "thorn in the flesh", and how he sees this fault as a way for him to keep humble; he knew he would fall into hubris if he was always perfect.

Many years ago a close relative asked one of my children why she thought God didn't cure her from her disease, a chronic auto-immune disease. To what my 5 year old responded "because if I wasn't sick we (the family), wouldn't feel like we needed God."

In a similar way, when we try to keep the presence of God, and do examinations of conscience, we can see our weak points, and where we need the help of our Lord to overcome them. They help us understand that we need to want to be in a state of grace, most importantly, that we need the help of God, and His Angels and His Saints to persevere. We need more than our own efforts to strive in the search of sanctity.

Judas, after betraying our Lord, despaired and killed himself out of desperation. Peter betrayed our Lord, and when he heard from the women that He was missing from the tomb, he ran to see for himself (Lk 24:12). Peter didn't run the other way when he realized Jesus had resurrected and might be mad at him. Peter ran to Him.

How awesome is that we have the same opportunity to run back to our Lord through the sacrament of Confession. Don't be afraid of approaching Jesus' forgiveness through His priest, whether you haven't been to confession for decades, or if you went just a couple of days ago, and need to reconcile with the Lord again.

God bless y'all!