Wednesday, July 19, 2023

Wednesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Exodus 3:1-6.9-12; Matthew 11:25-27)

In the first reading God tells Moses, “Come no nearer…the place where you stand is holy ground.”  Where Jesus stands in today’s gospel is also “holy ground.” Yet he invites the poor and oppressed to join him.  He wants these chosen people to know the “rest” that the Son shares with the Father.

Their rest is not merely an afternoon nap that energizes one to finish the day.  It is, rather, the relationship of love in which the Father gives over everything to the Son, the Son receives it and then gives it back to Father.  Such a mutually fulfilling exchange produces rest, peace, and joy.  It belies the wisdom of the world where people are told not to give but to take as much as they can.  Such a mindset supposedly makes one happy but actually ends in distress.

Imbued as we are in a market culture, we have difficulty accepting Jesus’ invitation.  We come to think of ourselves as “accomplished” when we own a big home and car.  We must recognize that our richest possession is the love of God that we cannot earn.  It is given to us as we die and rise with Christ in Baptism.

Friday, January 16, 2015

Friday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

(Hebrews 4:1-5.11; Mark 2:1-12)

When Martin Luther King and companions called the bus strike in Montgomery, Alabama, many African-Americans walked to work.  It was no small sacrifice since the walkers often stood on their feet all day at their jobs.  Yet they were willing to do it because they knew the bus strike was a giant step forward in their quest of human dignity.  One elderly lady who had participated in the strike expressed her satisfaction at day’s end. “My feet are tired,” she said, “but my soul’s at rest.”  The author of the Letter to the Hebrews expresses hope for such rest in today’s first reading.

The Letter to the Hebrews is probably written for Jewish converts to Christianity under the threat of persecution.  Their trial is compared to the testing that the Israelites experienced as they wandered through the desert for forty years.  Their rest of unification with the risen Christ in glory is taken as the completion of the promise made to their ancestors of entry into the Promised Land. 

Rest is always more than inaction.  Full rest includes the satisfaction of knowing that we have done our very best.  When a teacher returns home after of a full day of instructing, disciplining, and encouraging her students, she can rest easy.  When we bear with difficulties to announce the good news of God’s love, we can also sleep easy.  The rest that we take is a foreshadowing of the eternal rest of the dead for which we pray on behalf of our loved ones and to which we look forward for ourselves.

Homilette for Friday, January 16, 2009

Friday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

(Hebrews 4:1-5.11; Mark 2:1-12)

When Martin Luther King and companions called the bus strike in Montgomery, Alabama, many African-Americans walked to work. It was no mean sacrifice since the walkers often stood on their feet all day at their jobs. Yet they were willing to do it because they knew the bus strike was a step toward racial justice. One elderly lady who had participated in the strike expressed her satisfaction at day’s end. “My feet are tired,” she said, “but my soul’s at rest.” The author of the Letter to the Hebrews expresses such euphoria as his hope for the people he addresses in the first reading today.

Rest is always more than inaction. True rest includes the satisfaction of knowing that one has done his or her very best. When a teacher returns home after of a full day of instructing, disciplining, and encouraging her students, she can rest. We bear with difficulties and seek ways to announce the good news of God’s love so that we might enter God’s eternal rest. Others may scoff that we are crazy or they may dismiss us with faint praise, but we do not live to impress them, at least beyond the desire that they too might know the love of Jesus. No, we live in order to rest with our Lord.