THE VULNERABLE LAY CISTERCIAN: The Achilles Heel

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Achilles%27%20heel#citations

“When the hero Achilles was an infant, his sea-nymph mother dipped him into the river Styx to make him immortal. But since she held him by one heel, this spot did not touch the water and so remained mortal and vulnerable, and it was here that Achilles was eventually mortally wounded. Today, the tendon that stretches up the calf from the heel is called the Achilles tendon. But the term Achilles’ heel isn’t used in medicine; instead, it’s only used with the general meaning “weak point”—for instance, to refer to a section of a country’s borders that aren’t militarily protected, or to a Jeopardy contestant’s ignorance in the Sports category.”

In today’s Lectio Divina meditation, (Philippians 2:5), I kept wondering about the word “vulnerable,” as applied to my seeming inability to keep focused on The Christ Principle. Granted, the fact that I am testing positive for Covid might be considered a free pass. In all actuality, it is because of my vulnerability to Covid that I associated this topic with all those topics that give my Baptism a chance to earn its way by fighting against the Lord of the Earth (the Devil). One Achilles heel is that when praying to God to keep me from the clutches of the Lord of the Earth, I shift the responsibility for my protection to God. This leaves me vulnerable as I underestimate the craftiness of Satan to use my spirituality against me. Do you see the subtlety of this vulnerability? I can never let my guard down because of my humanity.

KEEPING THE DEVIL LOCKED OUT

I remember all those scary Dracula movies where the vampire can’t enter the house unless there is an open window, or someone just invites him in. In real life, it is also like that. I must invite Satan into my space. The Achilles heel is one such place where there is a “weak spot.” Here are some of the vulnerabilities that come to mind when I look around my life experiences and why they are so deceptive to the weak of heart and faith. I take responsibility for these opinions because they come from my Lectio Divina. You make your own conclusions. Here are some characteristics that come to mind, when I use the words “Achilles heel.”

Characteristics:

• Everyone has an Achilles heel. It is part of the inheritance from Original Sin.
• Denying our vulnerabilities makes us vulnerable to the seduction of the Lord of the Earth (Satan).
• We may have more than one vulnerability.
• St. Paul called this his “thorn of the flesh,” but it may be physical, mental, or physical.
• Achilles’ heels are neither good nor bad, but rather part of what it means to be human.
• You don’t get rid of Achilles heels as much as you do convert them from your false self to your true self.

VARIOUS ACHILLES HEELS

HUMANS– The Achilles Heel of all humans (except Jesus and Mary) is death. All of us must succumb to this most terminal of vulnerabilities. Jesus became human nature not to keep us from dying as nature intends all living things to undergo but to show us how death is but a stage not the terminus of human existence.

JESUS — Jesus took on the imperfections of human nature as well as its nobility by emptying being God because of love for all of us. (Philippians 2:5). Jesus, who knew no sin became sin for the ransom of many.

SCIENCE– The Achilles Heel of Science in general is the mindset that all reality is what you can see and thus prove with scientific theories. This is not to say that the scientific approach is wrong as much as it is incomplete because it does not admit what is invisible to the eye. You don’t see what you don’t think is possible, thus a flawed Achilles Heel.

ORIGINAL SIN– This Achilles Heel is one that admits that humans have the ability to choose but what they choose is always correct for them, simply because they choose it. We have to learn what it means to be human, which, according to the world means doing what feels right, but may not lead to being fully human. God gives us what it means to fulfill our humanity but humans, because of their stubbornness and contrariness don’t want to be told what to do. The irony is that only when humans deny what they think is right can they be open to what God tells them is THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and so THE LIFE.

THE CHURCH UNIVERSAL– The Church as it comes down through the ages may be seduced into thinking either that keeping the law is fidelity or abandoning what the world says is trendy and all the rage. The Achilles Heel is not realizing that only the cross and Christ’s admonition to love one another as He has loved us, will save its followers from descending into the Hell of thinking I am God, I speak for the Holy Spirit, I am the pope, I am one whose opinion is without error (infallibility). Factions are fiction.

MY LIFE– My Achilles Heel is pride in thinking God does what I want. It is only when I have “fear of the Lord,” as St. Benedict wrote in Chapter 7 of his Rule, that I realize humility is my great downfall. Each day, I must challenge life to transform it into one which says “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

ATHEISTS — The Achilles Heel for atheists is they have not tried what they so eloquently protest against. G. K. Chesterton writes, “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has never been tried at all.”

PROTESTANTS –– In their zeal to love Christ, many have assumed that all the Catholic Church teaches is bad, just because of some abuses from individuals. The Achilles Heel means the alternative is the heresy of the individual. No one can tell me what to tack on the doors of the Whittenburg Cathedral. Factions are the unintended consequences of such believers, as sincere as they might be.

POLITICIANS AND SUPREME COURT JUSTICES — The Achilles Heel for any politician is the untenable position of agreeing to moral principles that contradict what they hold personally as a matter of personal conviction. This is schizophrenic morality and dissonance of behavior.

I actually don’t worry about any of these because I have trouble enough with my own Achilles Heels and trying to convert my life (conversio morae) from my false self to my new self in Christ Jesus.

There are four sources of energy for me that I try to remain faithful to becoming.

• The Cross — This is the sign of my adoption as a son (daughter) of the Father and distinguishes me from the world.
• The Eucharist — Recognizing the sign of contradiction in the real presence and partaking of it as much as possible means I have the energy of God (Grace) to sustain me.
• The Scriptures – Using the road map that the authors wrote as inspired by God is a way I know I am on the path.
• Penance — I must recognize that I am a sinner in need of redemption and require daily presence before Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.

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