Boast

“If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.” – 2 Cor 11:30

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Dear friends in Christ Jesus,  in today’s Bible passage we hear the suffering of Paul as an apostle of Jesus. Paul as an apostle always gave glory to Jesus in his life. As an apostle of Jesus oftentimes he had to pay heavy prices, had to undergo persecutions both spiritual and physical. He was beaten many times, imprisoned many times, flogged and stoned many times. Paul underwent all through this due to the love for Jesus. Paul was united with the risen Christ. Paul was able to read the mind of Jesus and what Jesus wanted him to do for the church. Paul was anxious about the growth of the early Christian communities.

Paul says that he will boast about the weakness of himself so that he can magnify the power of Christ. We are able to read in the letter to the Galatians 6:14 – “May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” The intention of Paul is very clear, he wants to glorify God.

Dear friends in Christ Jesus, let us also try to glorify God through our lives. With pure intention through small actions of love coming out of love for Jesus we could glorify Jesus. Like Paul let us also be united with Christ knowing his will and able to read his mind. 

May God almighty me glorified forever and ever. Amen.

Bible Reflection on 2 Corinthians 11: 16-33 by Fr. George Joseph SVD

Sincere and pure | Simplicitas et castitas

Your thoughts may be corrupted from a sincere and pure commitment to Christ (2 Cor 11:3).

From the time of Paradise, our thoughts have been corrupted by sin. We were created with sincere and pure hearts as children of God, but after sinning we became weaker and weaker. That is why Apostle Paul, who understood this human condition so well, teaches us to be reborn in the Holy Spirit.

We were created in the image of the Holy Trinity — born into the holy love of God the Father and nurtured by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Through Christ we began to live as God's children. Yet we often forget our dignity and, as a consequence, the dignity of our sisters and brothers.

The danger is real: we sometimes receive a different spirit — not God's Spirit — and listen to a different gospel, one born of human deception rather than divine truth. This is the very deception Paul warns against. He calls us to follow his example and humble ourselves so that Christ may exalt us.

The truth of Christ reveals our capacity for holiness: we can become holy as the apostles and saints became holy, through God's grace and sanctifying power. This is our true mission. We must love God first with all our hearts, then love ourselves as God loves us, and extend that love to one another. In this way, we become authentic witnesses of Christ's righteousness and truth in the world. Through Christ and in the love of the divine Word, Amen.

Bible Reflection on 2 Corinthians 11: 1-15 by Fr. Jozef Trzebuniak SVD.

(Listen to podcast here)

Boast in the Lord | Gloriatur

Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. For it is not those who commend themselves that are approved, but those whom the Lord commends (2 Corinthians 10:10-18).

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Reflecting on 2 Corinthians 10:10-18, focus verse 17-18. Reflecting on St Paul's words who writes of boasting in the LORD and warning of the dangers of boasting in our own achievements. 

In a beautiful general audience on 6th March 2024, Pope Francis also gave a good catechesis on Vices & Virtues, specifically, on the vice of pride (General Audience of 6 March 2024 - Pope Francis). In that beautiful teaching, our (late) Pope warned about the dangers of human pride, and how it broke the intimacy of our first ancestors with God, when they had succumbed to the tempter’s lie, “when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God” (Gn 3:5). Even our first Pope, St. Peter had succumbed to the siren call of human ego and pride when he boasted in the Presence of our LORD, “Even if everyone forsakes you, I will not!” (cf. Mt 26:33), only to be overcome with remorse in the latter gospel accounts of Christ’s Arrest where Jesus’s prediction that he would deny the LORD 3 times before the rooster crows was ultimately fulfilled. (Luk 22:57-62) 

However, there’s hope for humanity, as Pope Francis said in the same address, that Salvation comes through humility, the true remedy for every act of pride. In the Magnificat, Mary sings of the God who by his power scatters the proud in the sick thoughts of their hearts. It is useless to steal anything from God, as the proud hope to do, because after all he wants to give us everything. This is why the apostle James, to his community wounded by infighting originating in pride, writes, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). 

St. John also wrote about God’s divine remedy for our sinful human hearts in 1 John 1:9: If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

Before I close this short reflection, let us also reflect on the humility of our LORD Jesus, who though being God, had humbled Himself, in human form, was obedient to our Father-in-Heaven to the point of death-even death on a cross.  

Philippians 2:3-8, NRSVCE 3 

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. 5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God that as something to be exploited, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, 8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.

May you enjoy also this short worship song, In Christ Alone, and my prayer that our boast in life ever be in Christ and Christ alone.

In Christ Alone

[Verse 1] 

In Christ alone my hope is found 

He is my light, my strength, my song 

This cornerstone, this solid ground 

Firm through the fiercest drought and storm 

What heights of love, what depths of peace 

When fears are stilled, when strivings cease 

My comforter, my all in all 

Here, in the love of Christ, I stand 

 

[Verse 2] 

In Christ alone, who took on flesh 

Fullness of God in helpless babe 

This gift of love and righteousness 

Scorned by the ones He came to save 

'Til on that cross, as Jesus died 

The wrath of God was satisfied 

For every sin, on Him, was laid 

Here, in the death of Christ, I live 

 

[Verse 3] 

There in the ground, His body lay 

Light of the world, by darkness, slain 

Then bursting forth in glorious day 

Up from the grave, He rose again 

And as He stands in victory 

Sin's curse has lost its grip on me 

For I am His and He is mine 

Bought with the precious blood of Christ 

 

[Verse 4] 

No guilt in life, no fear in death 

This is the power of Christ in me 

From life's first cry to final breath 

Jesus commands my destiny 

No power of Hell, no scheme of man 

Can ever pluck me from His hand 

'Til He returns or calls me home 

Here, in the power of Christ, I'll stand 

 

[Ending] 

No power of Hell, no scheme of man 

Can ever pluck me from His hand 

'Til He returns or calls me home 

Here, in the power of Christ, I'll stand

Words and Music by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend © 2002 Thankyou Music (PRS) / Adm. worldwide at CaptiolCMGPublishing.com, excluding Europe which is adm. by IntegrityMusic.com
Youtube Link: https://youtu.be/m_063OI38RQ?si=cZbNpMEv6btekIvB

Reflection on 2 Corinthians 10:10-18 by Chris Tan.