I know you have all been waiting for me to reveal what I am about to tell you. I can just sense that you have been sitting ever-so patiently by your computer screen hoping that one day I'll tell you this important detail about my life. And lucky for you, today is the day for me to tell you....what kind of shampoo I use. TADA! Sarcasm aside, I have to admit that one of the greatest inspirations for my prayer time as of late has come from my shampoo bottle. Currently, I am using Dove 'Intensive Repair' shampoo and on the bottle, this shampoo is described as a "weightless formula" that "internally reconstructs hair and prevents split ends and breakage". This rather dramatic description of my shampoo expresses a vital truth about the product: that it isn't a superficial fix for my hair's damage. Rather, the shampoo works to heal the damage at its source and to reduce breakage and produce strong, healthy hair.
I think that this description can be easily modified to describe Christianity: it is the weightless formula by which we are internally reconstructed so as to prevent brokenness. And for the majority of us, I think we can easily wrap our minds around the second part of this description: that it is Christ who works to heal the damage of our souls and reduces the brokenness caused by sin to produce strong, healthy, meaningful lives for us.
But I suspect that the description of Christianity as the 'weightless formula' is a concept we all are struggling to grasp. We are told to "carry our cross" and "bear our share of hardship for the gospel", so how can this relationship with Christ be considered weightless? With the lofty and seemingly impossible standard of "Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect" given to us by Jesus, how could anyone ever argue the weight and difficulty of Christianity. And I am not attempting to argue that either. I cannot and will not write that the Christian life is easy or that Christianity, truly lived out, is not sometimes cumbersome. But I think that this description of the "weightless formula", properly understood, will lead us all to deeper gratitude and a more passionate pursuit of his grace.
Pretend that you have been asked to carry a person double your weight 20 yards across a field. If you are like me and basically have the upper-body strength of a 4-year old boy, you might find this task rather daunting. But pretend that you were asked to carry out the same task while in a swimming pool. The phenomenon is that the presence of the water makes the task easy. The presence of the water makes the person seem weightless. Surrounding the body with water, the weight is changed and the difficulty is masked.
This is the phenomenon of grace. The crosses we bear, the hardship we endure, and the burdens we must carry become weightless when we surround ourselves with the grace Christ readily provides. 2 Corinthians 9:8 says that "God is able to make grace abundant for you, so that in all things, always having all you need, you may have an abundance for every good work". Grace is the freely-given gift from Christ that changes lofty demands to gentle nudges toward perfection; that makes insurmountable challenges seem obtainable; and that makes the presence of suffering able to be borne. Christ, who carried the weight of our sin, still offers to carry the weight of our struggles, hardships, and challenges by means of his grace.
All of us, living in an imperfect world, striving towards the glory of heaven, face the difficulty of the mission of faith daily. And if we were to look honestly at our lives, we would all see a plethora of circumstances that seem impossible, irreparable, and overwhelming. So today, with humble hearts open to his grace, may we believe the words that the Lord spoke when he said "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness." In the daunting task of discernment of choices, SEEK GRACE. In the midst of deep sorrow and suffering, SEEK GRACE. In a time of spiritual dryness or feelings of incompetence in faith, SEEK GRACE. In weakness and doubt, challenge and hardship may we seek him in prayer and in Sacrament to receive the "surpassing grace of God" that enables us to live the life for which we were made.
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