“My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” These famous words of St. Paul offer us a tremendous challenge to which we must pay careful attention.
What St. Paul accomplished in his missionary work is truly breathtaking. He literally laid the foundation upon which the Christian Church was built as he brought the Gospel of Christ from its humble origins in Palestine to all of the Greek and Roman world. He did this in spite of the fierce and violent opposition that he faced, in spite of the extraordinary dangers and risks of travel by land and sea in his time and in spite of his own sinfulness. When Paul reflected on what he accomplished, he recognized that all that he did was done through the power of God working through him. Paul opened his heart completely to the grace of God so that God could use Paul as the instrument through whom God brought the Gospel to the entire Greco-Roman world.
When we look at our lives, we see how God calls each one of us to be instruments through whom God makes present in our world the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In this way, the reign of God is truly present in our world. All of us can think of reasons why we cannot serve as the instruments through whom the reign of God is made present in our world in our witness to the values of Jesus Christ. We offer the excuses of age, infirmity, busyness, and other priorities. St. Paul, however, reminds us that if we open ourselves to the grace of our God, God can work in and through us regardless of our circumstances so that we can incarnate the Gospel once more in our world. Remember how family members of the victims of the Charleston shooting responded when they first encountered the gunman in court. They offered him forgiveness and testified that they would not succumb to the temptation to hate. If in the midst of their very deep grief they could be instruments of the Gospel of Christ, how can we claim that we cannot do the same?
Let the grace of God fill our hearts that God’s power might be at work in and through us for the transformation of our world.