The following is the second reading from Mass last night, A letter from St. Paul:
Consider your own calling, brothers and sisters.
Not many of you were wise by human standards,
not many were powerful,
not many were of noble birth.
Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise,
and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong,
and God chose the lowly and despised of the world,
those who count for nothing,
to reduce to nothing those who are something,
so that no human being might boast before God.
It is due to him that you are in Christ Jesus,
who became for us wisdom from God,as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,
so that, as it is written,“Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord.”
As I sat in Mass and read the words to myself I was overcome with sadness, joy and gratitude. The lines,"God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise,
and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong,
and God chose the lowly and despised of the world,those who count for nothing,
to reduce to nothing those who are something,
so that no human being might boast before God."
made me think about myself and my relationship with my boyfriend.
As many of you know I was a wild child of sorts before my conversion to the Catholic faith. I ran with some crazy people, drank too much, did drugs, had little to no respect for myself or others, in short I was the lowly, the weak, the shame. Then I changed and within that time I fell in love with an amazing man. He is smart, funny, talented, loving and so much more. Sitting in Mass last night i realized just as I am the lowly, the shameful, the weak he is the strong, the wise, the something that St. Paul speaks about. As tears filled my eyes and that familiar tightness wrapped itself around my cheat I saw our relationship in a new light. I saw us both struggling to love God, to hear Him, to do what He is calling us to do and I saw us helping each other reach those goals. Pushing each other , loving each other, being brutally honest with each other all for the better of our souls. Even now I laugh that I thought I had it all figured out, I never know what God has planned and it is moments like last night in Mass I am thankful for that. I am also thankful to have a Father who loves me and takes care of me without me even realizing it. I am also very thankful and grateful for my wonderful boyfriend. I am almost certain that my path to heaven will be lined with moments where he pushed me to be the best me I can be, and I will be eternally grateful.
