14th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A
Jesus said, “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 yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”
With these words from today’s gospel reading, Jesus invites us to come to Him with all our needs and to bring all our problems, frustrations, worries etc to Him and He will take care of it and refresh us. This invitation reminds us of God’s everlasting love for us. Remember who Christ is, our God, Creator, Savior, Redeemer, Sanctifier, Protector, and the Author of our life, this is why He tells us today that He is meek and humble of heart. So how do we answer this invitation from Christ today? How can we deal with our problems, frustrations and worries? How do we ask Him for our needs?
The first step to going to Jesus in the most difficult times of our life or to ask Him for our needs is by humbling ourselves. Humility is the key to going back to Him, because when we humble ourselves, we free ourselves from pride or arrogance and receive God’s mercy and love. Also when we humble ourselves, we understand the importance of God in our lives and appreciate His love for us by low self-regard and a sense of unworthiness, so as to totally rely on Him for all our needs and desires. By being humble, we continually listen, receive, and respond with generous openness to life from the deep conviction of God's loving kindness and goodwill. So how do we humble ourselves before God? By examining our consciences to find out how we have failed to love Him; by accepting our wrongdoings and asking Him for pardon and forgiveness; and lastly, by making amends for our sins in changing our lives for good.
The second way to go to God is by deepening our Faith in Him. This is very important because without Faith in God, how can we go to Him when we labor and are burdened. So when we deepen our faith in God, we totally trust Him by placing our confidence only in Him, and we hope in Him with a fervent desire and confident expectation in His faithfulness in what He has promised. So how do we deepen our faith in God? We can deepen our faith in God through the act of praying always; then by practicing the virtues of patience and perseverance. So my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, no matter what you are going through today, or your problems, frustrations, and worries, it is time to answer Jesus’s invitation by going back to Him in humility, and by deepening our faith in Him, so as to wholeheartedly hope and trust in Him, and we will surely find rest for ourselves, because His will give us rest, for His yoke is easy and His burden, light.
