REALISTIC. FANTASTIC
- Jul 18
- 1 min read
You: ‘I don’t know how to pray.’
Me: ‘Of course you don’t.’
You: ‘Seriously, I can’t pray.’
Me: Relax. Let Paul direct you:
The Spirit comes to help us in our weakness. For when we cannot choose words in order to pray properly, the Spirit himself expresses our plea in a way that could never be put into words (Romans 8).
We are good people, but weak. Take this magnificent passage from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
It is not in our power not to feel or to forget an offense, but the heart that offers itself to the Holy Spirit turns injury into compassion and purifies the memory in transforming the hurt into intercession (CCC, 2843).
On the one hand, this passage is entirely realistic:
Life is full of offenses. Sometimes people intend to offend us, but mostly not. Either way, we feel the pain. It’s hard to forget.
On the other hand, the passage is entirely fantastic:
We offer our hearts to the Holy Spirit and transformation occurs, surpassing human capacities.
Injury becomes compassion. Hurt becomes intercession.
What would our political, social, cultural and communal life look like if we took the Spirit seriously?
AMEN.
