The Folly of the Cross

The first reading at this morning’s Mass:

God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise,
and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong,
and God chose the lowly and despised of the world,
those who count for nothing,
to reduce to nothing those who are something,
so that no human being might boast before God. (1 Cor 1:27-29)

In the Preface of the Mass for Martyrs, we have this marvelous echo of St. Paul: “You choose the weak and make them strong in bearing witness to You, through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

All this is part of the great inversion that Christianity announces: the last shall be first, the first last.