Holiness and Vulnerability
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Our readings this Sunday promise that God hears the cry of people who are oppressed, that God is with those who feel “poured out like a libation,” that God hears and responds to the prayers of humble people. I take great comfort from these assurances because sometimes I feel vulnerable, poured out, weak. I also hear a call in them; if God hears the cry of the oppressed, then I need to be attentive to their cry too.
The thing is, as humans, each of us is a mix of strength and weakness, gift and brokenness. As I reflect on who I think of as “the oppressed,” it occurs to me that every person I encounter has weakness – as do I. Of course, life has afforded some of us, including me, a certain amount of privilege, and that allows me to assume I’m strong much of the time. However, if I am really in touch with myself and honest before God, I must recognize my own fragility too.
I’m not trying to play the victim or talk out of my privilege, but I am saying that the cry of the oppressed is not an us/them, strong/weak, helper/helpless dichotomy. Viewing people this way is a recipe for division, condescension, and othering, and it is certainly not the call of the Gospel. The call of the Gospel is to acknowledge that each person has a bit of weakness and strength and to love them as they are. No one has it all together, and people who identify in various ways have a lot to offer each other. When I recognize my own weaknesses and not just those of another person, our encounter is relational rather than condescending.
This week, one of the God Space small groups used an interview with Jean Vanier, the founder of L’Arche, as a basis for our sharing. We were touched by his reflections on vulnerability, mutuality, and tenderness. L’Arche communities have a mix of people with and without disabilities living together. Because they are communal rather than institutional, there is mutuality – not an us/them, but simply an us. For Jean Vanier, living in community with people of diverse abilities showed him how each person is part weakness and part strength and helped him to be at peace with his own limitations. He said, “We are [all] very fragile in front of the future. Accidents and sicknesses is the reality. We are born in extreme weakness, and our life will end in extreme weakness.” We must learn to welcome our own weakness in order to welcome that of another person. His community revealed how broken bodies have worth and dignity. Once people enter into relationship, they love and value each other as persons. Together in community, they form a beautiful whole as they share their vulnerabilities as well as their gifts. Vulnerability becomes a holy thing; in fact, Jean Vanier says that even God is vulnerable.
You see, God is so respectful of our freedom. If, as the Epistle of John says — that God is love, anyone who has loved in their life knows they’ve become vulnerable — where are you and the other person? Do you love me back? So if God is love, it means that God is terribly vulnerable. And God doesn’t want to enter into a relationship where he’s obliging or she is obliging us to do something.
Vulnerability is not a bad thing; it’s a human thing, even a God-like thing. Each of us is a mix of giftedness and brokenness. The more deeply I come home to that reality, the more genuine I can be, trusting God and others to love me in my brokenness and sin. And I can love people as people, not seeing some of them as “the oppressed,” but as one with me in the great human community, the beautiful, broken body of Christ.
When you think of the “oppressed,” what specific people or groups of people do you think of? What feelings and reactions emerge when you consider them? If you reflect on it, can you find anything you may have in common with them?
In what ways do you feel broken, vulnerable, weak? Have you ever had an experience of someone else’s love and compassion for you when you felt vulnerable? What was that like?
After reflecting on vulnerability, in yourself, in others, and in God, what would you like to say to God?
By Sister Leslie Keener, CDP
Sister Leslie Keener, CDP is the director of God Space, a community-building spirituality ministry in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. She’s a Sister of Divine Providence with a Masters in Ministry and a Certificate in Spiritual Direction and Retreats from Creighton University. She directs retreats, meets with people for spiritual direction, and serves as the vocation director for her community. She also serves on the Coordinating Council of Spiritual Directors International. She enjoys music, meaningful conversations, dancing — and holy podcasts.