The Gift of Weakness
July 19, 2023
Father John Riccardo
Dear brothers and sisters, the Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings. And the one who searches hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the holy ones according to God’s will.
Romans 8:26-27
Paul is pretty straightforward here: we do not know how to pray as we ought. Apparently, we are wrong about many of the things we beg of God in prayer – things which seem pretty obvious to us that He should do or grant.
Paul had firsthand experience of this. After briefly describing the visions the Lord had blessed him with, he wrote, “To keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness’” (2 Cor 12:7-9).
This passage is worth pondering in greater detail, for it offers us deeper insights into the excerpt from Romans. Paul knows God can do anything. He likewise knows God is love (not just loving). He has seen miraculous healings in Jesus’ name and extraordinary conversions – starting with his own. One can easily picture Paul kneeling in prayer with deep faith and utmost confidence that Jesus will remove his “thorn,” which is clearly causing him so much anguish.
This seems like a good prayer, doesn’t it?
And, yet, the Lord tells him in effect, “No. You need this. This thorn you want Me to remove actually keeps you from thinking too highly of yourself and from being insufferable to others.”
I recently heard a sermon pointing out how providential it is that we don’t know what Paul’s “thorn” was. Various things have been proposed down through the ages, from physical afflictions to extreme sexual temptations. The preacher noted that because Paul doesn’t tell us, many of us imagine that whatever our thorns are must be Paul’s. And, the preacher concluded, more than a few of us get similar answers from God to our requests.
Personally, I hate the feeling of being weak, in any way. Yet, the Holy Spirit seems to be telling us through Paul that we need weakness. Weaknesses powerfully remind us of how utterly dependent on God we are. I remember hearing a priest many years ago say, more than a bit alarmingly, that some of us even need sin, for without it we might be woefully proud. This would be a dangerous thing to say from a pulpit, as it could easily lead people to think the priest was saying sin is no big deal. But that wasn’t his point at all. Sin is clearly a big deal. God hates it. It cost Jesus His life. Rather, his point was simply to say that even our sin, while not a good, can be used for good by God, for it can remind us of our need for God, temper our harshness with others, and drive us to the Lord who is rich in mercy.
Let us, then, by all means go before the Lord of the universe every day with our prayers and petitions with utmost confidence in His power and love. But let us also keep Paul’s words at the forefront of our minds: at the end of the day, we simply don’t know what to ask for. And let us trust in God’s power to bring good out of absolutely everything.