Ostium Catholic

James and John said yes before they understood the cup. This is the structure of every serious yes. The understanding comes after the commitment, in the drinking, across the years. Anyone who waits to understand before they commit will wait indefinitely, because the cup is not legible from the outside - only from the inside, mid-drink.

Paul's theology of the earthen vessel is not consolation for those who did not turn out strong enough. It is the actual account of how the power of God works in human life. The vessel must be clay so that the source of the power is unmistakable. If the vessel were not cracked, the treasure might be attributed to the container. The inadequacy is not incidental to the demonstration. It is the demonstration.

Those who sow in tears shall reap rejoicing - but they go forth weeping. They carry the seed in tears and come back with sheaves. The weeping and the sowing are simultaneous, not sequential. You do not wait until you have stopped weeping to go out with the seed. The psalm's claim about what faithful action looks like in seasons of loss is not wait until you feel better. It is go out weeping, and trust the harvest.

The doorway this feast names is the one between the yes and the understanding - the threshold you cross before you know where it leads.

What yes have you said that is currently asking more of you than you understood when you said it? Name the cost that is becoming clear now. Is the yes still holding? And if it is not - what would it take to renew it?

Lord, I said yes before I understood. I am still saying it. Let the power be yours through whatever cracking happens. Precious Blood of Jesus, save us. Amen.