Borrowed Strength
Updated: Sep 3
“And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority.”Luke 9:1
The tool is heavier than it looks. You adjust your grip. For a moment you feel a strength that is not entirely your own: the leverage, the design, the skill of those who made it and used it before you.
Jesus sent the disciples out with almost nothing of their own. They carried authority that had been given. It was not invented in private. It did not begin with their talent. He gave, and then they went.
Much of what we accomplish is borrowed. Strength from the tool. Knowledge from teachers. Patience learned from watching someone else work carefully. Even the shape of the handle is a kind of inheritance. Another person’s thought is still helping your hand.
You do not have to pretend the power starts only in yourself. You do not have to refuse the help that is already built into the instrument.
The Mass is built on borrowed strength. The words were given before we were born. The bread was grown and baked by other hands. The priest does not create what he consecrates. The people do not invent the peace they offer. Christ gives what we could not make. Then he lets us use it, carefully, for the good of others.
Borrowed strength is still real strength when it is used with attention.