Saturday, July 4, 2020

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

We have heard it said that when you know another intimately, whether friend or spouse, you begin to take on characteristics of that person. Their thoughts begin to become your thoughts and their ways your ways.  Each become a part of the other and in that sense we want what is best for them because we see a part of ourselves in them.  This is the childlike faith we are called to in this “ pearl” of Matthew’s gospel.

Trust and simplicity; virtues by which the heart intimately linked to the Father resides.  If you have ever been in a position where those have been broken then you know deep pain. This trust and simplicity are the marks of the child. For if we know God we give him charge over us and this trust leads to faith, what is revealed to us, to hope, that what he reveals will come about, and to Love, that we carry through in him what he asks of us.

Any chore that we do alone can cause us to be weary. The words,” many hands make light work” are true.  Any task shared softens the burden we bear alone. Jesus gives us a beautiful picture, one he would know well as a carpenter, of bearing the burden. He shares it with us as the yoke evenly spreads the weight across the two shoulders so that we know we don’t carry the full load.

Witnesses who have, sometimes at great cost, accepted this invitation, are those we call saints.  Even in times of great trial their joy never fades, not in earthly life or the next.

Our response then can be the words of the psalmist of thanks and praise. The Lord is faithful in all his ways.  In trust we understand that.







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