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Jesus said: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest” (Mt 11:28). |
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6 July 2008
Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
A long time ago I began to search for some way to understand death as continuous with life. Otherwise dying is merely a cancellation. And suffering is just a smaller version of it.
Jesus seems to imply that we needn’t worry about it, just come close to him. “Come to me all who labor and are burdened and I will give you rest,” he says in this week’s Gospel. But in Holy Week we experienced Jesus’ passion and death on the Cross, which do not seem restful, at least to this writer. |
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And how about 9/11 incident, and Iraq conflict, and Aids, and the tsunami and earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes and such? Yes we turn to the Lord and we do find comfort, many of us, but it doesn’t really seem restful.
And, of course, there are clergy who abuse children and young people, even though these same men took up the Lord’s life explicitly and made themselves public witnesses of it. Have these men ever slept an undisturbed sleep since their crimes? Even if they have, clearly the survivors have not.
Time steals away the life and liveliness of human beings, whatever of it the world has not already plundered, and death puts an end to it all. How does Jesus give us rest from these kinds of weariness and burden? In what way does he make death easy?
“I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves,” he says. Read it in the Gospel. Can it be true? How can we welcome a savior who is meek and humble instead of fiercely opposing the disastrous wrongs?
Jesus’ words do bring some fledgling kind of calm in the face of all this. Somehow he compels us, consoles us. Actually you might say that he reveals one of life’s secrets that we might never have guessed. What can it be?
Seek it in me, Jesus says. “I am meek, and riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass” (First Reading). Watch me on the sad height of Calvary and see. I have let it all go—belongings, beloveds, repute, all. But one thing remains. Make it your life, in the midst of sorrow, in every act of living and of dying. It is the center of my life.
Love. Love of God and neighbor.
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Our upcoming P.A.R.I.S.H. Celebration:
Every Friday, 8:00 pm
Come, let us praise and
adore as a community!
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Dei
Gloriam
Is
our new young adults group catering to parishioners aged 26 to 40 years
old. All young adults are invited to our fellowship. more... |
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Discover Christian Living through Gospel
Every Sat at St. Michael's Room, 10am to 12pm. We break the Word based on the Sunday's Gospel and the Catechism of the Catholic Church. "Living the Gospel" is presented to you by the Bible Ministry. |
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Reminder |
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Public Holiday Mass
Daily Mass 8:00am only.
No evening Mass.
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P.A.R.I.S.H Eucharistic Celebration
Fri 16 May 2008
8pm.
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