13 December 2013
Memorial of Saint Lucy, Virgin and Martyr
“You can’t win.” How often we hear that expression of frustration, when in spite of our best efforts, everything turns out exactly the opposite of what we had hoped. “Ya can’t win.”
Our Lord was fully human, and part of His human experience was frustration – with human beings. John the Baptist came as an ascetical giant, and was accused of having a demon; Jesus comes and sits at table and the gossip is that He is a sensualist. God can’t win with people, it seems –
Perhaps the problem is that human beings place their egos at the center of all reality. And so every interaction is a “heads I win, tails you lose” situation from the point of view of each ego – each self-centered, self-justifying ego. The world is chock full of people judging everything in their favor, and condemning everyone outside what they judge acceptable. Jesus will do everything He can to free us from this self-justification, which is the antechamber to hell. We can block His efforts, for we are free; but we cannot stop Him from loving us, and keeping up His assault on our defences. Because He can – and will – win. Unless we lock Him out….