July 27
Weakness becomes strength
did not come
to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.Those were strong people
who taunted Christ's disciples because their master entered the homes of
the sick and ate with them. Why, they asked, does your master eat with
tax collectors and sinners? O you strong ones who do not need the doctor!
Yours is not the strength of health but of madness! God grant that we may
never imitate that kind of strength. We should dread the possibility of
anyone wanting to imitate it.
The teacher of humility, who shared our weakness and gave us a share in his own divinity, came to earth in order to teach us the way, even to be the Way himself. It was his humility, above all else, that he impressed upon us. He willingly submitted to baptism at the hands of one of his servants, so that we might learn to confess our own sins and to become weak in order to be truly strong, repeating with the apostle: When I am weak, then I am strong.
| Augustine Day By Day | The Augustinians - St. Thomas of Villanova Province |
From John E. Rotelle, O.S.A., Tradition Day by Day: Readings from Church Writers. Augustinian Press. Villanova, PA, 1994.
HTML text prepared by David P. Steelman