{"id":1402,"date":"2014-07-06T12:34:15","date_gmt":"2014-07-06T16:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=1402"},"modified":"2014-07-06T12:34:15","modified_gmt":"2014-07-06T16:34:15","slug":"14th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-homily-year-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/14th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-homily-year-a\/","title":{"rendered":"14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Homily – Year A"},"content":{"rendered":"

14th<\/sup> Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A<\/a>
\nZechariah 9:9-10
\nRomans 8:9, 11-13
\nMatthew 11:25-30
\nJuly 6, 2014<\/p>\n

Why are you here?<\/p>\n

This might seem like a simple question with an obvious answer but I think it is a question that we need to ask ourselves from time to time.<\/p>\n

So, again, why are you here?<\/p>\n

For some it might be because we came with someone else.\u00a0 It\u2019s a starting point.<\/p>\n

For some we come out of obligation.\u00a0 We are supposed to come on Sunday.\u00a0 God can work with this.<\/p>\n

For some it has been a good week and we come to give thanks.\u00a0 Maybe there are even some that it wasn\u2019t such a good week but they come thankful for God\u2019s presence in the bad times.<\/p>\n

Then there are those who come looking for something.\u00a0 How\u2019s it going to help me?<\/p>\n

We come to give God praise but ultimately we do get something out of it.\u00a0 First and foremost we get grace.\u00a0 We hear God\u2019s Word to guide us and the Eucharist to strengthen us.<\/p>\n

Maybe we come simply seeking some rest.\u00a0 It is in this context that we hear Jesus\u2019 words \u201cCome to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

The reality is that on any given Sunday, we can come to church for a few of the reasons I mentioned.\u00a0 Sometimes it just boils down to life isn\u2019t easy and we need some help and rest.<\/p>\n

This gospel passage is sometimes read at the funeral of people who have faced a lengthy illness.\u00a0 In faith, we understand that in death, our loved one is set free from all earthly burdens and goes to be with God to find eternal rest in Heaven.<\/p>\n

For us who are living, we need \u201crest\u201d even now and we don\u2019t want to have to wait till we die to get it.<\/p>\n

We each have our own burdens.\u00a0 It may be sickness, aging, job, financial, or family problems.\u00a0 Sometimes we go looking for the easy way out.\u00a0 In prayer we ask God to free us from our burdens but to do so remember Jesus\u2019 words in the garden, Father, let this cup pass from me but not my will but yours be done<\/em>.<\/p>\n

We should ask begin by thinking about evaluating our burdens and seeing if there is an easy way out but sometimes the easy way out isn\u2019t the best way out.\u00a0 Do you think the Crucifixion was the easy way out for Jesus?\u00a0 If it was, I hate to think what the hard way would have been like.<\/p>\n

We know the reality is that God doesn\u2019t keep us free from burdens.\u00a0 Jesus doesn\u2019t say there are no burdens when we follow him.\u00a0 He does say his way is easy <\/em>and light.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

So we pray for Jesus to help us through our burdens that we might find rest.\u00a0 Coming here today should be part of the rest.\u00a0 Prayer in general should help us find rest.<\/p>\n

Sometimes the best rest involves prayer but no words.\u00a0 When we pray, we should tell God all our problems.\u00a0 There is no need to hold back with God.\u00a0 He has big shoulders so God can take it.<\/p>\n

This is an important part of finding rest as it helps us open up to God.\u00a0 However, I think there is an important part of our relationship with God that sometimes we forget or don\u2019t know how to do.<\/p>\n

Sometimes we arrive at church just as Mass begins and leave as quick as we can.\u00a0 So throughout our time here, something is always going on.\u00a0 If we do come early or hang around for a couple of minutes afterwards, we are talking to other people.\u00a0 Sometimes we are saying our own prayers.\u00a0 Do we ever just sit and be quiet?\u00a0 It can seem difficult but sometimes it is exactly the rest we need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A Zechariah 9:9-10 Romans 8:9, 11-13 Matthew 11:25-30 July 6, 2014 Why are you here? This might seem like a simple question with an obvious answer but I think it is a question that we need to ask ourselves from time to time. So, again, why are you here? …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Homily – Year A’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-mC","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1402"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1402"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1403,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1402\/revisions\/1403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}