July 3, 2011
Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time A
By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ
Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion, shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! See, your king shall come to you; a just savior is he, Meek, and riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass. Zechariah 9:9
Consequently, brothers, we are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Romans 8:12-13
"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 your selves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light." Matthew 11:28-30
Piety
Piety is the closeness we have with the Lord. Christ invites us to intimacy. The burdens of Christ fit our shoulders. A yoke is carved to the size of the person’s shoulder. The invitation to work with the Lord has his companionship in the yoke. He is the stronger one and so he bears the biggest burden. He invites us to find our rest with him. He calls his yoke easy and the burden is light. We go to the Lord to find the meaning of our lives in his work which we share. There is the Spirit of the Lord that dwells in us if we put to death the deeds of the body to live by the Spirit of the Lord. We are told we do not have to be brilliant because these things are hidden from the wise and the learned. They have been revealed to little ones. Our relationship to Christ reveals the Father to us. Christ is the human expression of the mystery of the Father. In Christ we have the perfect expression of the mystery of God. God reveals himself to us by Christ. A just savior is he, meek, and riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass. There is nothing pretentious about him. He proclaims peace to the nations. His rule shall be from sea to sea. Our Lord is compassionate toward all the works we do in his name. Our task in life is to praise his name for ever. We make him the inspiration of all that we do.
Study
We study the words and the events in the life of Christ because God reveals to us through Christ the Mystery of who we are meant to be. We are all created in the image and likeness of God in Christ. Christ is the deepest meaning our lives for this reason. Whatever we find attractive about Christ reveals something of what we are meant to be in Christ. We do not exist apart from Christ. He gives us our being and becomes for us the meaning of our lives. There is an ongoing revelation of Christ that flows out of our study of the Scripture. Good people give us insight into who Christ is today in our lives. The victory of Christ is won by the Resurrection and the Resurrection of Christ gives the ultimate meaning to all of our lives. When we do something that is beautiful it is an insight into what we are in Christ. Christ is the beauty of all of our lives.
Action
Whatever we do, we need to bring to Christ for our strength to be refreshed when we have given all of ourselves to a task. There is no bypass of the cross of Christ. The tree of glory is what we suffer for the sake of Christ in filling up what is wanting to the suffering of Christ’s body, the Church. Thus we guarantee that we live in the Spirit of Christ. He came to announce the Good news of God’s love for us. We become the expression of God’s love by the good actions of our lives. Each day it behooves us to do something kind, generous and noble for another. Thus we put to death the living according to the flesh to live in the Spirit of Christ. Every need that we reach out to with the love of our hearts makes the meekness and humbleness of heart of Christ ours. We become the Mystical Body of Christ by what we do for the least ones of our daily lives. How we need each other makes us Christ to one another.
