Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 9, 2023

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God will help us with the burdens we carry in this life

Matthew 11:25–30

At that time Jesus said in reply, “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

Music Meditations

Opening Prayer

I ask, Lord, for the grace to be among the little ones, able to thank you for your greatness and to wonder at your love for me. Give me, as well, the grace to recognize my own arrogance and exaggerated sense of self-worth based upon what I know or my position in life. Help me to be open to your invitation to lay down my burdens and rest in the peace of your presence in my life. Help me to be a place of refuge for others who are burdened at this time with worry or grief. Give me your compassionate heart.

Companions for the Journey

From “First Impressions” 2023, a service of the Southern Dominican Province:

There is a tone of mystery in the opening verse of today’s gospel as Jesus praises God for having, “hidden these things from the wise and learned....” What does he mean and why would God do that? Jesus has just finished speaking to his disciples – the “little ones.” They have received his message and are about to go out to spread it. The gospel begins with verse 25, but it always helps to check the context from which a passage is taken. Looking back at the sequence leading up to today’s passage we notice: John the Baptist is in prison (11:2) and Jesus responds to criticism against himself with the complaint that his generation acts like finicky and self-willed children (vs. 16-19), who want things their way and no other. Both John and Jesus just haven’t conformed to the people’s expectations about what God’s salvation should look like. So, Jesus accuses them of being stubborn. He tells them that they are never satisfied: they didn’t accept a strict John the Baptist, nor a freer Jesus, who opened his arms to sinners and sat at table with those beyond the religious pale.

It’s obvious that finicky religious people didn’t just exist 2,000 years ago! People (us too?) never seem satisfied with the way the church and local parish are. There is always much to criticize and we have plenty of excuses to hold back fuller participation. It’s possible though, that our closer involvement might help the community and the leadership we criticize become a better reflection of Christian living and worship. Or, are we also guilty of Jesus’ charge against the stubborn generation? It’s true we don’t have a perfect church, or world. So, what are we going to do about it? One response, in the light of today’s gospel, is to pray for a deeper commitment and response to Christ and to ask to be open to the revelation he has for us this day. How can we be less stubborn and more fully responsive to his invitation, “Come to me...”?

We learn still more about today’s gospel by looking back to what leads up to it. Jesus has met rejection in Galilee by a stubborn generation. Hostility is growing, particularly from the religious leaders, the very ones who, if they had accepted him, could have promoted his message to the ordinary people. Jesus hoped for a better response to his ministry, how hard it must have been for him to see his project of spreading the good news thwarted. From this point in Matthew’s gospel those who accept Jesus are fewer in number. It looks like the result of his work is on a downward curve. Nevertheless, what sounds mysterious to us is that he gives thanks to God for those few who are receiving him and his message. He isn’t focused on the many who are rejecting, but on the few who are accepting him. They are the ones he calls, the “little ones” – little in religious and social importance, and little/few in numbers.

In his prayer, Jesus shows his acceptance of God’s plan. The episode opens with, “at that time....” What time is that? It is the time when: Jesus’ Galilean ministry is facing the population’s rejection and his message (”these things”) is “hidden...from the wise and learned.” But the “little ones,” who know nothing about the fine points of theology and few things of religion, who are considered unclean and sinners by the establishment – they get the message. They hear what it offers, God’s grace for them through Jesus, and they accept it. The sinners, prostitutes and tax collectors, who don’t even know religious law, much less keep it, are the ones to receive forgiveness and welcome at Jesus’ table.

There are “little ones” a preacher meets along the way. Some may be very educated, others may not have much education, or sophistication in religious matters. But they do seem to have grasped the essence, or heart of Jesus’ teachings. They possess a wisdom, given them through their life experience which enables them, as if by second nature: to know right from wrong; respond heroically to those in need; make large sacrifices of time, energy and money for their families and community and take the side of the outsider, poor and vulnerable. Jesus says, “No one knows the Son except the Father and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal God.” When we meet a “little one,” we sense they “know” Jesus and his Father in a unique and intimate way. These are the kind of people over whom Jesus rejoices today, they are the gifts God gave to Jesus in his lifetime and continues to give now. For them, then and now, Jesus is most grateful and filled with joy, even though he has plenty of reason to be disappointed in the response he is getting more and more from his contemporaries.

Today we sense the relationship Jesus has with his Father. When he talks about “knowing” the Father and “knowing” Jesus, he is talking about knowledge in the biblical sense. While we know topics by studying and though we can even know a person by reading and getting information about him or her, to “know” someone in the bible is to have an experience of them. So God’s knowledge of Jesus is very personal and direct, as is Jesus’ knowledge of God. Jesus says to his disciples, the “little ones,” by their coming to know him, they now know God. They know, through Jesus, that the Father has the same concern and love for us that Jesus showed. We too “know” God because of the life Jesus has lived for us and the relationship he offers us. There is an equality between Jesus and his Father, they know each other intimately and are working “hand in glove” together for our well being.

Religion could be a terrible burden for the unlettered and untutored of Jesus’ day. So much to know and, for desperately poor peasants, so little leisure time to learn. For those who were burdened by the guilt incurred by numerous violations of religious law, the “yoke” Jesus offers is his own “yoke.” It is rest and welcome for the religious outsider. The very ones religion considers unworthy of God are the ones Jesus is reaching out to welcome, “Come to me all who labor and are burdened....Take my yoke....” What book would someone study who wants to follow Jesus’ way? What tomes, laws and religious commentaries? How will they get his way right?

Jesus invites the “little ones” to come to him – to “read” and “study” him. Matthew’s gospel has a strong wisdom theme, reminiscent of the wisdom books of the Hebrew scriptures. Jesus is a wisdom teacher and today’s reading captures a moment in which he is teaching us wisdom. “Come to me,” he is saying, “and in me you will discover divine wisdom.” “What must I know?” we might ask. “Know me,” would be his response.

It is sobering to realize that Jesus’ wisdom was rejected by those in the know and yet accepted by the “don’t knows.” Today’s gospel passage calls us to another kind of wisdom than what mere information and learning give. The wisdom Jesus offers is not a series of teachings, things we must learn or achieve through our own pursuits. The wisdom he offers is not book knowledge, but a Person – himself. We get that wisdom by following and staying close to him; observing his actions; listening to his words; imitating him and seeing the world from his perspective. That’s what makes the “don’t knows” wise and those who claim they know, foolish. What a twist; but it is a gospel twist: the wise are foolish, and the “little ones” wise; or put in another way, the first shall be last and the last shall be first.

Further reading:

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today’s session…

My yoke is easy and my burden light

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today’s reading and discussion?

Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions or the meditations which follow:

Reflection Questions

  • Do I consider myself one of Jesus’ “little ones”?
    What would give me “rest”?
    How am I burdened by the unknown?
    Do I talk to God honestly about what is worrying me?
    Is there resistance in me to sharing this with Jesus?
    What causes this resistance (shame, guilt, pride, stubbornness)?
  • Being really angry with someone is a deep burden. Can I bring my troubles and failings in this regard to Jesus?
  • Do I think Jesus understands weaknesses, struggles or disappointments?
    Did he have any in his life?
    What can I learn about better behavior from watching Jesus?
  • How can prayer give me perspective?
    How can prayer lead to acceptance?
  • What do I really want?
    What are my deepest desires?
    Are they a comfort or a burden to me?
  • Are there religious or civil rules that are personally burdensome and troubling to me?
  • What is my personal comfort zone (what situations have to exist for me to avoid stress)?
    Am I out of my comfort zone often? Right now?
  • How does lack of control over the events of one’s life become a burden?
    How great is my need for control?
  • How often am I tempted to use force and intimidation to get my way?
  • I think of a time in my life when I was “burdened”?
    Did I share my troubles with anyone?
    What happened?
  • What burden am I carrying that I want to lay at the feet of Jesus?
  • Do I know of someone who is particularly burdened right now?
  • Whose burden can I relieve or take away?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:

We can divide our human burdens into three categories.

The first is the burden of daily irritations—standing in line at the post office, wearing a mask outside, being on endless hold listening to bad elevator music, trying to figure out legal forms, watching bad behavior of an out-of-control child, being the embarrassed parent of said child. The list goes on. And the more stressed we are, the more these irritations are, well, IRRITATING!

The second burden includes some serious worries like money, illness, job loss, a bad relationship, hurts we can’t heal, anger that won’t go away. Some of these issues may be ours or they may be serious issues for someone we love. In any event, these things burden us and sometimes, make us a burden to others.

The third burden runs the deepest, often because we suppress it. It is the burden of personal identity. Who am I? We live in a world that tells us we are what we have; we are what we do; we are what we look like; we are what degrees we possess; we are what others say about us. We put an awful lot of energy into maintaining our beliefs about identity. It is exhausting. And scary. What happens when I lose what I have, lose what I do, or lose what I look like? What happens when I have shaped my identity to impress or please others? How does this erode my sense of my true self? Jesus’ temptation in the Desert was basically all about these identity issues. How did he respond? What difference did it make to Jesus what others said about him? How did his relationship with his father (His ABBA) sustain him in difficult and burdensome times?

Questions:
Which of these burdens is troubling me most right now?
Do I believe that God wishes to lighten my personal burden?
Do I believe I am beloved of God?
Do I believe that what I have or do does not matter to God?

Prayer:
I ask God for the reassurance of being blessed
I ask God for patience with myself and others
I ask God for hope: trust that God is looking out for me

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination:

Parables help us to see life from another person’s point of view and, using our imagination, to examine our own lives: The Parable, the Return of the Prodigal Son from Luke, illustrates the burdens of insecurity that we all carry, and how God is there to reassure us that we are the beloved, just as we are. Father Henri Nouwen reflects on this parable in light of Jesus’ own experience, Nouwen’s own experience, and Rembrandt’s vision:

Soon after Jesus had heard the voice calling him the beloved, he was led to the desert to hear those other voices. They told him to prove that he was worth love in being successful, popular, powerful.

Almost from the moment that I had ears to hear, I heard those voices and they have stayed with me ever since. The have come to me through my parents, my friends, my teachers, and my colleagues, but most of all, they have come and still come through the mass media that surround me. And they say: Show me that you are a good boy. You had better be better than your friend! Be sure you can make it through school! I sure hope you can make it on your own! Are you sure you want to be friends with those people? These trophies certainly show what a good player you were! Don’t show your weakness, you’ll be sued! When you stop being productive, people lose interest in you”. Parents, friends, and teachers, even those who speak to me through the media, are mostly very sincere in their concerns. In fact, they can be limited human expressions of an unlimited divine love. But when I forget that voice of first unconditional love, then these innocent suggestions can easily start dominating my life and pull me into a “distant country”. (40-41)

The world says: “Yes, I love you if you are good-looking, intelligent, and wealthy. I love you if you have a good education, a good job, good connections. I love you if you produce much, seek much, buy much. There are endless “ifs” hidden in the world’s love....The world’s love is and always will be, conditional.

As long as I keep looking for my true self in the world of conditional love, I will remain “hooked” to the world (42)….I am the prodigal son every time I search for unconditional love where it cannot be found….I am constantly surprised at how I keep taking the gifts God has given me—my health, my intellectual and emotional gifts—and keep using them to impress people, receive affirmation and praise, and compete for rewards, instead of developing them for the glory of God. Yes, I often carry them off to a “foreign country” and put them at the service of an exploiting world that does not know their true value. (43)

Jesus has made it clear to me that the same voice he heard at the River Jordan and on Mount Tabor can also be heard by me. Faith is the radical trust that home has always been there and always will be. The somewhat stiff hands of the father rest on the prodigal’s shoulders with the everlasting blessing: “You are my beloved, on you my favor rests.” Yet over and over again I have left home. I have fled the hands of blessing and run off to faraway places searching for love! This is the great tragedy of my life and of the lives of so many I meet on my journey. Somehow I have become deaf to the voice that calls me the Beloved, have left the only place where I can hear that voice, and have gone off desperately hoping that I would find somewhere else what I could no longer find at home.

Rembrandt’s painting of the father welcoming the son displays scarcely any external movement….(this painting is one of utter stillness.) The father’s touching the son is an everlasting blessing; the son resting against his father’s breast is an eternal peace. Jakob Rosenberg summarizes this vision beautifully when he writes: “the group of father and son is outwardly almost motionless, but inwardly all the more moved….the story deals not with the human love of an earthly father….what is meant and represented here is the divine love and mercy in its power to transform death into life.”

“Coming home” meant for me, walking step-by-step toward the One who awaits me with open arms and wants to hold me in an eternal embrace.

A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action:

Read the following excerpt from Father Thomas Keating’s book Intimacy with God, pp 159-160:

Prayer cannot stand alone without action emerging from it. Contemplative prayer without action stagnates, and action without contemplative prayer leads to burn-out or running around in circles. Contemplative prayer sifts our contemplative vision and our ideas about what we should be doing…. We are coming from an inner freedom that more and more without our thinking about it, expresses the mind of Christ in our particular daily lives through the welling up and flowing over of the fruits of the Spirit and the Beatitudes.

After reflecting on the scriptures, what action can you take this week to lift the burden of someone you know—family member, friend, someone in the larger community who is weighed down by poverty, fear, sadness or doubt? If you do not know anyone personally, get in touch with Catholic Worker House in Redwood City, a group that cares for those who have no one to care about them. In the Franciscan manner, roll up your sleeves and be Jesus for someone in need of a helping hand to carry his cross.

Poetic Reflection:

This poem from Ed Ingebretzen, S.J. reminds us that God does not wish to burden us, but to comfort and mother us:

“From Narrow Places”

From narrow places
the strength of our voice
rises:

our every breath
is prayer,
the great poem of need,
a constant scattering
of praise.

Early
we reach to God
in the claim of our hearts,
while he,
our father,
mothers us
in his

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship:

This Sunday’s psalm is 145. It is a message of hope in these troubled days. Read it to yourself several times, picking out the phrases which have the most meaning for you. Then write your own thank-you note to God for the times you have been sustained when you have felt burdened or troubled:

Psalm 145

1I will extol you, my God and king, and bless your name forever and ever.
2I will bless you day after day, and praise your name forever and ever.
3The LORD is great and highly to be praised; his greatness cannot be measured.
4Age to age shall proclaim your works, shall declare your mighty deeds.
5They will tell of your great glory and splendor, and recount your wonderful works.
6They will speak of your awesome deeds, recount your greatness and might.
7They will recall your abundant goodness, and sing of your just deeds with joy.
8The LORD is kind and full of compassion, slow to anger, abounding in mercy.
9How good is the LORD to all, compassionate to all his creatures.
10All your works shall thank you, O LORD, and all your faithful ones bless you.
11They shall speak of the glory of your reign, and declare your mighty deeds,
12To make known your might to the children of men, and the glorious splendor of your reign.
13Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom; your rule endures for all generations.
The LORD is faithful in all his words, and holy in all his deeds.
14The LORD supports all who fall, and raises up all who are bowed down.
15The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season.
16You open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
17The LORD is just in all his ways, and holy in all his deeds.
18The LORD is close to all who call him, who call on him in truth.
19He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and he saves them.
20The LORD keeps watch over all who love him; the wicked he will utterly destroy.
21Let my mouth speak the praise of the LORD; let all flesh bless his holy name forever, for ages unending.

Closing Prayer

Teach me to go to this country beyond words and beyond names.
Teach me to pray on this side of the frontier, here where these woods are.
I need to be led by you.
I need my heart to be moved by you.
I need my soul to be made clean by your prayer.
I need my will to be made strong by you.
I need the world to be saved and changed by you.
I need you for all those who suffer, who are in prison, in danger, in sorrow.
I need you for all the crazy people.
I need your healing hand to work always in my life.
I need you to make me, as you made your Son, a healer, a comforter, a savior.
I need you to name the dead.
I need you to help the dying cross their particular rivers.
I need you for myself whether I live or die.
It is necessary.
Amen.

—“Litany” by Thomas Merton