POZER

2 corinthians 11:18,21-30; PS 34 from all their distress God rescues the just; MAtthew 6:19-23

"If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness."

A few weeks ago, myself and a group of adults went to a youth conference or convention for those who work with youth, in particular LIFETEEN.

On one occasion, as we gathered for the MASS of the day, the priest, when inviting us to prepare ourselves for the penitential rite, paused to make this observation, "we are all posers."

We are posers.  What he went on to say is that all of us through out our life put on a good face, whether it is in our ministry or in our careers or even in our families.  We all pretend at times to be better than we really are.  We all present ourselves as having it all together, when in fact we are barely holding it together most days.

The penitential rite is an opportunity for us to keep it real.  IT that moment of the Liturgy when we are asked to call to mind our sins, our weakness, our failure God comes to bail us out from our own self-confidence and teach us to be more confident in Him and Him alone.

This is what it means when those words pressed upon our lips, I confess to Almighty God and to you my brothers and sisters that I have sinned..."

We, like St. Paul, are boasting in our weakness and entrusting our lives to the strength of God's mercy.

We acknowledge that we all share a dark place and in this common sharing then the light of God's grace can begin to grow.

This is the treasure we store up.  This is where our heart is, enthroned on the merciful heart of Christ himself.

Then we assure ourselves that the light with in us is not dark at all.