Thursday - 15th Week of OT 2017 - "For I am meek and humble of heart"

Over the past few days, our first reading has been taken from the book of Exodus. We’ve heard how God hears the cries of his people, burdened by the suffering of Egyptian slavery, he hears their call for deliverance. God chooses Moses to deliver God’s people from the hand of Pharaoh, to lead the enslaved to the rest of the promised land. But before Moses takes up this mission, we heard today, how God revealed his name to Moses.

Jesus reveals Himself as the great deliverer, the one who can lead all mankind to the eternal rest of the promised land of heaven, whose name itself means savior, Jesus, God who saves us from our sins.

Jesus invites all mankind to turn to him for salvation, for rest. He’s not promising a good night’s sleep or the forgetfulness of our problems that comes from the bottle or the little pill. Nor does he promise that he will magically make all of our difficulties vanish. Jesus offers a rest, a peace that nothing in the world can possibly give. “Peace, not as the world gives, do I give” says the Lord. It is rest and peace that comes from his mercy. The forgiveness of the guilt of sin, the knowledge of being reconciled, and being in communion with God, brings life and rest and peace, that no substance, no political or social reform, not amount of amount of physical or mental therapy can provide. Peace of soul. Such peace is available through the Sacraments, through prayer and devotion.

Notice, how Jesus doesn’t promise to unburden us totally. As soon as he promises rest, he commands us to take up a new burden, to take up the yoke, which is an instrument of work, of labor. But his yoke is radically different from the burdens the world places on us, the burdens of our worldly responsibilities and earthly anxieties. The Christian is to take up the yoke of the Lord’s humility and his meekness.

For many of us, learning how to imitate Jesus’ humility and his meekness is hard work. Learning how to lay aside harshness, grumpiness, pride, willfulness, smugness, superiority, this change of mind and heart is taxing, it requires real work, real effort, the mortification of our attitudes and routines.

But it’s the harshness, willfulness and the pride, the spirit of the age, the spirit of disobedience, that causes us to be so unhappy and exhausted all the time. Humility, meekness, gentleness, the heart of Jesus is easy and light compared to the burden of worldliness.

May the Holy Spirit help us to identify what attitudes and behaviors need to be set aside, that we may take up the yoke of the mind and heart of the Lord, that we may know his peace in this life and his rest in eternity for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
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For Bishop Nelson Perez, the next shepherd of our diocese; for our Apostolic Administrator, Bishop Daniel Thomas; for Bishop-emeritus Richard Lennon; that the Holy Spirit will continue to enlighten and empower them with grace, confidence and hope.  We pray.
For our Holy Father’s prayer intention for the month of July: that our brothers and sisters who have strayed from the faith, through our prayer and witness to the Gospel, may rediscover the merciful closeness of the Lord and the beauty of the Christian life. We pray.
For deliverance from all disordered affections and attitudes, for detachment from earthly goods in order to value the goods of heaven. We pray.
That the love of Christ, the divine physician, may bring healing to the sick and comfort to all the suffering. We pray.
For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, and all the poor souls in purgatory, for deceased priests and religious, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom. We pray.
O God, who know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.