{"id":4299,"date":"2020-07-05T11:22:57","date_gmt":"2020-07-05T15:22:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=4299"},"modified":"2020-07-05T11:23:16","modified_gmt":"2020-07-05T15:23:16","slug":"14th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-a-homily-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/14th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-a-homily-2\/","title":{"rendered":"14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

14th<\/sup> Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A<\/a>
Zechariah 9:9-10
Psalm 145:1-2, 8-9, 10-11, 13-14 (1)
Romans 8:9, 11-13
Matthew 11:25-30
July 5, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus gives praise to the Father. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The psalmist speaks of praising, extoling, and blessing our God and King.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus praises God for, while He had \u201chidden these things from the wise and the learned<\/em>,\u201d He \u201crevealed them to little ones.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The psalmist praises and gives thanks to God because \u201cThe LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness.<\/em>\u201d  \u201cThe LORD lifts up all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We do well to thank God for what He has done for us and we speak of his might, sharing with others the blessings God has bestowed on us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d like to talk about six words in today\u2019s gospel.  They are spread throughout the passage.  The words are reveal, knows, yoke, easy <\/em>and light<\/em>, and rest.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reveal \u2013 Jesus speaks of what the Father has hidden from the \u201cwise and the learned<\/em>\u201d yet revealed to the \u201clittle ones<\/em>.\u201d  The wise and learned may think they know God.  They think they know all they need to.  They are not open to God teaching them.  The little ones are open.  So, God \u201creveals\u201d these things to help the little ones know him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Know – That brings us to the second word, \u201cknow\u201d.  We can \u201cknow\u201d facts and figures.  We can \u201cknow\u201d rules in the sense that we memorize them but this is not the sense of the word \u201cknow\u201d that Jesus uses the word in today\u2019s readings.  Jesus speaks of how He \u201cknows\u201d the Father and the Father \u201cknows\u201d him.  Here, knowing goes far beyond human knowledge of facts, figures, and rules.  It is to know each other of a far deeper level.  When we know God in this way, we know how much He loves us and we praise him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yoke \u2013 a yoke is used by farmers who use animals to pull the plow.  We might then associate it with work.  It might seem like a burden.  However, the yoke is not designed to add burden (work) to the farm animal.  It actually makes their job easier.  In fact, that is the very purpose of a \u201cyoke\u201d, to help do the work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pharisees (aka \u201cthe wise and the learned<\/em>\u201d) had made the Law a burden and never lifted a finger to help the people in their burden.  They found great difficulty in living out the Lord.  What the Father reveals to the little ones is how the yoke of his commandments actually help us through life.  Taking God\u2019s yoke upon us helps us endure the suffering of this world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rest, easy, & light \u2013 I think people tend to look at these words and think it means they will have no<\/em><\/strong> burden but it doesn\u2019t say that.  Yes, Jesus tells us to come to him and He give us rest.  However, \u201ceasy\u201d and \u201clight\u201d do not equate to no <\/em><\/strong>burden.  What they do indicate is that life is far easier with Jesus in it than without.  Jesus helps us carry our burdens, He lightens <\/em><\/strong>our load.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you need \u201crest\u201d from?  Where do you need Jesus to help carry your load?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How are you doing with the Coronavirus?  We pray for an end to the pandemic and for God\u2019s guidance for our secular and religious leaders in dealing with it.  We pray for all the front-line and essential workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What else?  Are you struggling with work?  Finding your present job too difficult?  Do you have a job?  Do you have enough to provide for your family?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you burdened by racist discrimination?  Or maybe you want to help fight against racism but don\u2019t know how and feel burdened?  Ask God to help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you burdened by illness? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you burdened by earthly attachment?  Have the very things that you thought should make things easier become a burden in themselves?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you burdened by war and violence in the world?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you burdened by sin? (Bring it to the Sacrament of Reconciliation.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God wants to help.  God is eager to help.  Jesus extends us his invitation, \u201cCome to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest<\/em>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We need to let go of the flesh to live in the spirit.  God gives us the Law and the Spirit as yokes to help us.  Do we open our whole lives to him, or do we hinder God\u2019s aid by only allowing him into the parts of our life that we want changed?  Let go of things to live in the Spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God blesses us and we praise his name for ever.  We praise him as our king and our God. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year AZechariah 9:9-10Psalm 145:1-2, 8-9, 10-11, 13-14 (1)Romans 8:9, 11-13Matthew 11:25-30July 5, 2020 Jesus gives praise to the Father.  The psalmist speaks of praising, extoling, and blessing our God and King. Jesus praises God for, while He had \u201chidden these things from the wise and the learned,\u201d He \u201crevealed them …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A – Homily’ »<\/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":[793,794,796,795,348],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-17l","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4299"}],"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=4299"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4302,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4299\/revisions\/4302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}