Washington Humidity

Jul 22

The summer after my freshman year in college, I had the pleasure of working as a tour guide in the US Capitol building. It was great fun to meet Americans and foreigners who came to visit the city and its many monuments and buildings. After a while, I began to identify certain groups. The most obvious were the English, the Irish, and the Germans.

As they climbed the stairs of the Capitol and entered the Rotunda, the horror, shock, and disbelief on their red faces betrayed their ill preparedness to deal with the humidity of a Washington summer. Frequently, after commenting on the heat and humidity, they would say to me, but you grew up here, so you are used to this. I usually chuckled and replied I don’t know that you ever get used to it, but you do expect it, know it is coming.

In the spiritual life, there is also a humidity. Faults, failings, setbacks, and the like are not necessarily experiences that we become accustomed or used to, but we do know that they are coming throughout our lives. St. Paul tells us that when he is weak, then he is strong. In his weakness, he becomes more and more aware of his dependence on God‘s love and mercy in Christ.

St. Francis de Sales tells us that these are moments of humility. If they are not sinful moments, but only setbacks and annoyances, he calls them “anbjectios” and tells us that we are called to embrace them because just like St. Paul, in all humility they remind us that we are ultimately not in charge. We are dependent on God‘s love, generosity, and mercy at all the moments of our lives.

As July continues, and August approaches, we know to expect the hazy, humid days of a Washington summer. They do not surprise us, but we do have to learn to deal with them. Let us bring confidence to our spiritually humid moments when we do experience our faults, failures, and life‘s setbacks.

With St. Paul, let us remember that when we are weak, it is our reliance on Christ and Christ's love is there to make us strong.

Happy humid days of July!

Live Jesus!