We need to love “Rock Bottom”

The most dangerous question a person can ask is “who am I?” Most people balk and rebel against their answer. Some people want to be successful with money. Some people want respect and power. Some people want all the pleasure in the world. Yet, none of these things are identities. They are cravings and desires. Desires by definition, as Socrates explained, are things that we do not possessed.

Whatever we desire will always be out of our reach. Whenever we “succeed” the moment is a brief ecstasy that is then replaced with that gnawing desire for what’s next. No one can be at peace until they can find contentment. Contentment will only happen once we are able to say, “I have all that I need and I don’t desire anything more.” But how do we know we have everything that we need?

No where is God’s Justice and Mercy more evident than in the phenomena of “Rock Bottom.” Rock Bottom is when we are FORCIBLY stripped of every advantage and means that we have. We lose our status, our job, our relevancy. We lose opportunities and privileges and connections. We hit rock bottom because we cannot fall any further. It is in these times that people feel the greatest amount of desolation, depression, and despair. For good reason too!

Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10

However, there is a beautiful mercy. WE CANNOT FALL ANY FURTHER. At rock bottom, you have the greatest clarity of who you are and what you have. The people that are willing to support you. The skills and knowledge that you have accumulated over time. The worldview and perspectives that have shaped your entire life. Some of these things may be good and some of these things maybe bad, but they are all yours and nothing can take them from you. EXCEPT…. yourself.

At rock bottom, God willing, you choose to persevere and keep moving. The most daunting dogma in the Catholic Church is that we possessed Free Will. It is our choice how to react to our situations. It is our choice as to what burdens that we carry. By prayer and fasting and study, we strive to increase our freedom to pursue the things that we OUGHT to pursue. We then become ever more certain about those things that hamper our freedom. Be it our job, our “friends,” or our sinful habits.

Rock Bottom is a mercy, because keeping someone in a bad situation is a cruelty. Making the bad situation obvious is the first step to getting out of the bad situation. Then, empowering someone to improve and grow comes the next part which is much more difficult. Humans have the frustrating ability to make their own life much more difficult than they should. Even Jesus says in Matthew 11:28-30, What you are carrying is too heavy. I will give you what you need to carry and no more and no less.

Rock Bottom is when we dropped all that we SHOULD NOT BE CARRYING. Yes, we fail and we lose and we suffer. But, whatever we lose is guided by God’s Providence. The Good Shepherd is giving us the assurance that we are being cared for. So, do not be afraid of hitting rock bottom. Instead, walk boldly into the valley of death knowing that our LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST is walking along side us. For it is when we are weak, that we must rely on Jesus the Most and that trust and dependence on God is what gives us strength!