Father Michael Shields We are broken

Father Michael Shields of The Heart of Jesus

“We are broken and longing for more”, Father Michael Shields of The Heart of Jesus, CatholicAnchor.Org, October 13, 2014, CatholicAnchor.org

We are broken and longing for more

Brokenness is something I know a lot about. Maybe we all do. We speak about brokenness in many ways. Broken promises. Broken hearts. Broken marriages. Broken lives. Broken bodies. Broken spirits. Broken minds. Brokenness is all around us. The world at times seems so broken. Out of order. It is a witness of original brokenness called original sin.

But here is something interesting: If we speak about brokenness, then by that very nature we know there was and is a wholeness. This is a great apologetic for the existence of God. Brokenness points to a desire and a longing for wholeness. If we see something broken we can imagine what it looked like whole. There is a vision we have deep within, and even more a longing for a wholeness once known.

There once was a garden — a place of completeness and harmony. “If our hearts long for something which this world cannot give, it can only mean one thing; that we were made for another world,” C.S. Lewis once penned. We all long for something more. The deepest brokenness is our shattered relationship with God. All other brokenness flows from that original break. The good news of the Gospel is that our heart’s desire for wholeness is possible. The cross of Jesus Christ has repaired the brokenness with God and each other.

Saint Paul gave us this image of ourselves as a treasure in a broken clay pot. Let me speak personally now. I have found that the failings of my life often are a treasure hidden in the broken pot. I have found when I am misunderstood or despairing or betrayed it forces me to embrace what is deepest in me. The times I fail, sin or am sinned against lead me to the deepest self-knowledge and eventually the greater confidence — even joy.

Trials empty our pot so it can be filled by God. Only through this process is our spiritual life purified and pruned. Only through this process do we die to our old self so that we can be transformed and renewed.

So come then and strengthen those weak knees — the cross has to be our life. There is opportunity for greater humility and compassion, for a sharper vision and wisdom and for new relationships by simply being obedient pots — broken vessels who hold the treasure of salvation for the world. Broken and blessed.

“If you act like a person redeemed, you can get me to believe in a redeemer,” renowned atheist philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once said. Are you listening all you lovely broken pots? The treasure is Christ contained in you.

The writer is pastor of the Church of the Nativity in Magadan, Russia.”

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