tap out

Genesis 32:23-33; Ps 17 In Justice, I shall behold your face; Matt 9:32-38

"Jacob was left there alone. Then some man wrestled with him until the break of day. when the man saw he could not prevail ove rhim, he struck Jacob's hip socket, so that the hip socket was wrenched as they wrestled. The man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob said, " I will not let you go until you bless me." the man asked, "What is your name?" HE answered, "Jacob." Then the man said, "you shall no longer be spoken of as Jacob, but as Israel, because you have contended with the divine and human beings and have prevailed... At sunrise, as he left Penuel, Jacob limped along because of his hip.

Today's first reading is a beautiful image of the spiritual life. Jacob wrestling with the messenger of God. Who would have though that the spiritual life could be equated with wrestling, though of course it is nothing like the wrestling we see on TV, that is child's play, that is soap opera like.

Perhaps it can be compared to UFC, and the submission hold is the choice move of the man of God.

But the true journey to God can and often does take on a wrestling scenario, us and God wrenching each other as we go.

How many have experienced this struggle, too many to tell.

Mother Teresa and St. John of the Cross just to name a few speak of the dark nioght of the soul.

Notice the wrestline match occurs in the night where the day break as not yet come.

The beauty of this passage, among many things, is the fact that Jacob refuses to quit, he refuses to let go, he refuses to give up; Jacob does not tap out.

What a lesson for us!
How often do we wuit to soon on the struggle? How often we throw in the towel? How often we tap out when the going gets difficult.

JAcob is a great model of faith for us.
If he would let go to soon, he would not have recieved the blessing God had in store for him. He would reamin, "JAcob, the who who decieves as his names means in hebrew, rather than becoming "Israel" the one who strives with God and thus becomes a nation set apart for God.

A little struggle leads to a greater blessing. One never knows what God has in store. The only way we can discover is to keep struggling, keep striving, not to quit on faith.

We have to keep the faith, run the race. The daily practice of devotion even when it is dry. THe weekly attendance at Mass even when we feel nothing. The continual acts of charity and giving of ourselves even when we limp along as Jacon limp, nonethelless the the blessing remains an offering for those who are willign to strive.

JAcob teaches us not to tap out.