irony - 22nd anniversary - 11th week monday

What is an irony?  An irony is a contrast between expectations and what really occurs.  It is an irony for example when they invented the mobile phone which was supposed to encourage communication.  But look at how we used it at times.  We cannot talk anymore because we are all busy texting.  The internet is in the same vein, it is an irony.  A Chinese alchemist was intently looking for what he called “elixir for immortality,” a medicine that would make us live forever.   Doing so, he accidentally invented the gun powder, the same invention that would eventually kill millions, even now.  It’s an irony – a contrast between your expectations and what really occurs.

In our first reading today Paul considers his ministry an irony, a contrast between what is expected and what it really is.  He is accused as a deceiver and yet he is most truthful; he is unrecognized and yet he is acknowledged and known to many; he may be to the eyes of some sorrowful and lonely but he is always rejoicing, content and happy; to many he appears poor – he does not have this and that, he cannot do this and that, and yet because of him, because of how he touched their lives many were enriched; he has nothing and yet he possess all things, he has in him something more fulfilling.  It’s an irony that one’s poverty can enrich many, it is an irony that what was thought at first as unendurable can be endured; it is an irony that the disable was made most able and what was thought as dying continued to live.  This is called irony.

This is what attracted me to the priesthood and this is what keeps me going 22 years after – it’s the irony of it.