Tuesday - 06/18/2013

	St. Paul Jubilee 2008-2009
	Exploring the Catholic Catechism
	Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church

Last Updated: Friday - 09/24/2010

Week of February 21, 2005

Beware the dangers of powerlessness

In Exile

By FR. RON ROLHEISER, omi

There's nothing wrong with wanting health, success, beauty, power, glamour, money or fame. Of themselves, these are good and can, if used properly, help God's glory shine through in ordinary life. But they can also be dangerous and can just as easily corrupt, inflate and weaken rather than strengthen character. We want these things, but they aren't always good for us.

Ironically, the reverse is also true: We don't want failure, humiliation, sickness, powerlessness, poverty or inferiority of any kind. Yet these, more than success and glamour, are what produce character and depth inside us.

If we examine ourselves with courage and honesty, we will see that almost all the things that have made us deep and given us character are the things we're often ashamed of: a plain body that won't let us stand out in a crowd; a quirky family whose habits can only be understood from the inside; a troubled history within which there have been too many instances where we were the dumb one, the weak one, the sick one, the excluded one, the fat one, the one without a date on a Friday night, and the one who got beaten up on the playground.

Beyond that, we've also been forever the frustrated one, the one who, despite the burning ache for greatness, has never and will never create the masterpiece, write the symphony or dance on a world stage.

But character and depth aren't given for scoring goals in the World Cup, for winning Oscars in Hollywood, or for being so successful or beautiful that you become an icon for an adoring public. Character and depth are given for coping with powerlessness, inferiority and humiliation.

There's an innate connection between attaining a certain level of depth and having experienced a certain level of humiliation. That's one of the lessons of Gethsemane.

Power can corrupt, but
so can powerlessness.

When Jesus walks into the garden of Gethsemane, he asks his disciples "to watch". They're meant to learn a lesson there, to see something illustrated. But, as Luke tells us, they missed the lesson because they fell asleep "out of sheer sorrow," were blinded by simple depression, were unable precisely to stare humiliation in the eye. That's why on the morning of the resurrection, when Jesus meets two disciples walking away from Jerusalem (the Church, the faith and the place of humiliation) towards Emmaus (a Roman Spa, a place of human consolation) he has to point out to them the necessary connection between humiliation and depth: "Wasn't it necessary that the Christ should have to suffer in this way so as to enter into his glory?"

What they'd missed seeing in the Garden, missed seeing Jesus struggling with and eventually accepting, was the innate link between the experience of humiliation and the resurrection of character. Resurrections come after crucifixions, Easter Sundays after dark Fridays, and depth of soul after the kind of pain that one is ashamed of.

However, just like power and success, failure and humiliation are also dangerous. Power can corrupt, but so can powerlessness. Many are the acts of violence that issue forth when people feel powerless and humiliated. Sometimes failure and frustration build character, but sometimes they build monsters and murderers. Feelings of inferiority drive us into the deeper parts of our souls, but demons lurk in those depths.

That's why Gethsemane is drama without a pre-written ending. Not everyone will handle things like Jesus did. The feeling of humiliation can make or break us, pushing us either into greatness or perversity.

In Jesus' case, it pushed him into greatness. How he handled his humiliation was perhaps his greatest gift to us and his deepest revelation of wisdom. By accepting humiliation and powerlessness (without resentment, but as a gift that can be used to give something deeper back to the community), he taught us one of the deep secrets inside the very DNA of love itself, namely, that only when the private ego is crucified do real love, community and character emerge.

(Second in a six-part Lenten series)

Our mission: To serve our readers by bringing the Gospel to bear on current issues in the Church and in secular culture through accurate news coverage and reflective commentary.