(Fourteenth Sunday of the Year (B): This homily was given on July 6, 1997 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I. by Fr. Raymond Suriani. Read 2 Corinthians 12: 7-10.)

"How to deal successfully with our skolops."

We all have them, and we don’t like them, but we’re stuck with them--which means that we must deal with them. What are they, you ask? Why, they’re skolops, of course! . . . and not the kind that you buy at the local fish market! This word ‘skolops’ is spelled S-K-O-L-O-P-S. It’s a Greek term that’s found in the original version of 2 Corinthians 12, and it’s commonly translated "a thorn in the flesh." St. Paul writes, "As to the extraordinary revelations, in order that I might not become conceited I was given a skolop [a thorn in the flesh], an angel of Satan to beat me and keep me from getting proud."

What exactly was Paul’s skolop? We don’t know. Some theorize that it was a strong temptation: the temptation to give up his mission as an apostle; a strong sexual temptation, perhaps. Others say it was the many persecutions he faced in his travels. Still others say it was a physical handicap--headaches or epilepsy or eye trouble--those possibilities have all been proposed by various people. But the bottom line is: We don’t know. However, we do know one thing for certain: we know that God allowed it (whatever it was) to continue, even after Paul prayed fervently that it would go away. But the Lord also promised Paul sufficient grace to deal with the skolop victoriously. The Lord said to him, "My grace is always sufficient for you, for in weakness power reaches perfection."

If you’re like me, you find that truth very consoling; because, as I said a few moments ago, we all have skolops--we all have points of personal weakness.

So what do we need to do to overcome our personal ‘thorns in the flesh’? What do we need to do so that God’s grace can win the victory in us, like it won the victory in St. Paul?

I would say that the answer is twofold: To deal successfully with our skolops, we must admit and submit. Both are required. First of all, we must admit: we must admit that we have a weakness; we must admit that we can’t manage our lives by our own power; we must admit that we’re not perfect and that we need God. Some, especially the "macho men" among us, may have difficulty doing this, but it’s absolutely necessary! Those men and women who have the skolop of alcoholism tell me that they could not even start to deal with their problem until they finally admitted they had one! Now our skolop may be nothing more than a tendency to lose patience--we still must be willing to admit the weakness.

But that alone is not sufficient for God’s grace to win the victory. We also have to submit: we have to admit the problem and then submit to God’s Word! In other words, we have to let God’s truth change us and our behavior. For example, God’s Word says that "Bad company corrupts good morals." (1 Cor. 15: 33) Many of us give in to our skolops simply because we hang around with people who encourage us to give in! If a recovering alcoholic hangs around barrooms all day, chances are he will not remain sober for very long. If our tendency is to be impure or vulgar, we should definitely not cultivate close friendships with impure, vulgar people. It’s called ‘avoiding the near occasion of sin’!

St. Paul overcame his skolop because he made the effort to obey God’s word on this point, and on every other point. And so when he was weak, the Lord’s grace made him strong and victorious. To paraphrase a common expression, Paul knew that he couldn’t, but that God could, and so he let him. May all of us follow that example, and so win the victory over our skolops.