Newsletter July 8th 2018

The Lord can reach us even through an experience that initially seems very negative. St Paul made this discovery for himself, according to his letter today. He struggled with what he called a thorn in the flesh. It is not easy to know what he means by this. Whatever it was, he wanted to be rid of it. He saw no good in it and he prayed earnestly to the Lord to take it from him, fully expecting that his prayer would be heard. Paul’s prayer was answered, but not in the way he expected. In prayer he came to realize that God was powerfully present in and through this thorn in the flesh. When we struggle with something inside ourselves or with something outside ourselves, some other person perhaps, we can be tempted to see the struggle as totally negative and just want to be rid of it. Like Paul, however, we can discover that this difficult experience is opening us up to God’s presence. The very thing we judge to be of little or no value can create a space for God to work powerfully in our lives. There is something of a paradox in what Paul hears the risen Lord say to him, ‘My power is at its best in weakness.’ It is often when we most feel life as a struggle that God can touch our lives most powerfully and creatively.

8th July 2018