I am blessed beyond comprehension because even though I am weak – through my own sinfulness – Christ was born of a Virgin who was strong.
About three years ago I decided – rather stupidly – that the time had finally come to teach myself to ride a bicycle. And so, full of enthusiasm, I strapped on my helmet, pulled out my son’s bicycle and started pedalling.
At first things went terribly. I was really really bad at riding a bike. I could not gain enough momentum to actually balance on the thing and it caused me all sorts of problems. And every time I fell I bruised myself or scraped myself. And each time he saw the damage I was doing to myself, my husband would call out – “This is a terrible idea. Would you please stop now? You are going to kill yourself…”
Knowing that my husband was worried about me, and not wanting to worry him more than was necessary, I decided that I would work on my bike-riding skills when he was away at work so that I would not be in his line of sight as I was developing my skills.
And so it was that one drizzling day, I got myself all set up and took my bike down to the very quite road upon which I live and started pedalling up and down the street. I fell and got up and fell and got up and fell and got up until finally – finally – I was able to stay on the bike and pedal away. And for exactly one minute everything was perfect. And then – in concentrating on how to balance on the bicycle, I forgot – for an instant to steer it – and slammed into the gutter, which made me lose my balance and fall head over heels straight onto my knee onto the road.
It was a terrible fall and I spent months very bruised as I recovered from the fall. And now – even today – my knee is not the same as it was before the fall. In cold weather it aches and I never lean all my weight equally on both knees anymore, because the injured knee is just a little weaker than the other one…
And I have been reflecting on that today, because my fall from the bike reminds me of humankind’s fall through Original Sin.
You see, just as my knee worked better before the fall, so too did humans! Just as my knee aches in the cold now, so too do humans misunderstand the Holy Will of God. Just as I cannot lean all my weight onto my injured knee anymore, so too are humans weaker after the fall than we could have been before.
And just as I left the watchful supervision and direction of my husband to land myself into all that trouble with the bike, so too did the fall of humankind occur when Adam and Eve hid from God’s sight.
And I have been thinking about that today, because I am blessed. I am blessed beyond comprehension because even though I am weak – through my own sinfulness – Christ was born of a Virgin who was strong. And where my knee is damaged – hers is PERFECT…
And without that Sacrifice of the Blessed Virgin and Her Holy Son, I would be doomed to eternity. And instead – because of them – there is hope for me… And that simply changes everything…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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