Homily: Friday - 1st Week in OT 2017 - Strive to enter into God's rest

Both yesterday and today, the author of the letter to the Hebrews quotes the beloved 95^th Psalm.  The Psalm is prayed daily at the very beginning of the Liturgy of the Hours in what is called the invitatory prayer. It is a beautiful psalm to begin the day with, for it contains so many themes and lessons important to the spiritual life: the importance of coming before God to worship, of singing his praise and giving thanks for the beauty of creation and his governance over it, as we reflected upon yesterday, the importance of not hardening our hearts against God’s commandments, and today we hear about the promise of entering into God’s rest.

The author to the Hebrews quotes Psalm 95 as a warning to the early Jewish-Christians, and to the Church of all ages to not grow weary in our witness to Jesus. 

The first reading ended with this powerful play-on-words, “strive to enter into God’s rest”, in other words, “work hard to enter into rest.”

After 40 years wandering in the desert, the promise of rest was taken very seriously by the Israelites. In the Promised Land of Canaan, the land flowing with milk and honey, the Israelites would be able to "rest" from the labors of Egyptian slavery and desert wandering.

God’s rest is spoken of at the very beginning of the Scriptures. In Genesis we read of God Himself resting from his labors on the 7^th day of creation. God’s people are called to enter into that Sabbath rest every week. Sometimes this requires real work in making sure that Sunday, the Lord’s day is a special day dedicated to God.

The Church fathers also saw this Sabbath “rest” as a foreshadowing of eternal life with Jesus Christ. We do well to work hard to enter into that rest, by striving to observe all that Our Lord commands, particularly the spiritual and corporal works of mercy and making use of the gifts of the spirit for the spread of the Gospel and building up of the Church.

When Augustine said, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in God” he recognized the importance of making God the center of our life. That when we are simply living for ourselves we will always be unhappy, unfilled, lacking real peace. To live selfishly we will never experience the rest of God.

“Let us strive to enter into that rest” for the Glory of God and salvation of souls.

That the Lord’s Day may be a day of rest and joy for the Church.
For Catholics who do not attend Sunday Mass, for those who have fallen away from the Church, for their return to the Sacraments, we pray to the Lord.
For a deeper commitment to the works of mercy and use of God’s spiritual gifts.
For all those who labor for the good of their family and country, that they may know God’s just rewards.