THE GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY : Thursday - July 20, 2023

 

Thursday - July 20, 2023

"It is a lesson we all need - to let alone the things that do not concern us. He has other ways for others to follow Him; all do not go by the same path. It is for each of us to learn the path by which He requires us to follow Him, and to follow Him in that path." 
-     St. Katharine Drexel  

July 20, 2023

Thursday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 392

 

Reading I     

                                                                                                Ex 3:13-20

 

Moses, hearing the voice of the LORD from the burning bush, said to him,

"When I go to the children of Israel and say to them,

'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,'

if they ask me, 'What is his name?' what am I to tell them?"

God replied, "I am who am."

Then he added, "This is what you shall tell the children of Israel:

I AM sent me to you."

 

God spoke further to Moses, "Thus shall you say to the children of Israel:

The LORD, the God of your fathers,

the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob,

has sent me to you.

 

"This is my name forever;

this my title for all generations.

 

"Go and assemble the elders of Israel, and tell them:

The LORD, the God of your fathers,

the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,

has appeared to me and said:

I am concerned about you

and about the way you are being treated in Egypt;

so I have decided to lead you up out of the misery of Egypt

into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites,

Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites,

a land flowing with milk and honey.

 

"Thus they will heed your message.

Then you and the elders of Israel

shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him:

"The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent us word.

Permit us, then, to go a three-days' journey in the desert,

that we may offer sacrifice to the LORD, our God.

 

"Yet I know that the king of Egypt will not allow you to go

unless he is forced.

I will stretch out my hand, therefore,

and smite Egypt by doing all kinds of wondrous deeds there.

After that he will send you away."

 

Responsorial Psalm                                                          Ps 105:1 and 5, 8-9, 24-25, 26-27

 

R.(8a) The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.

 

Give thanks to the LORD, invoke his name;

make known among the nations his deeds.

Recall the wondrous deeds that he has wrought,

his portents, and the judgments he has uttered.

R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.

 

He remembers forever his covenant

which he made binding for a thousand generations--

Which he entered into with Abraham

and by his oath to Isaac.

R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.

 

He greatly increased his people

and made them stronger than their foes,

Whose hearts he changed, so that they hated his people,

and dealt deceitfully with his servants.

R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.

 

He sent Moses his servant;

Aaron, whom he had chosen.

They wrought his signs among them,

and wonders in the land of Ham.

R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.

 

Alleluia         

 

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,

and I will give you rest, says the Lord.

R. Alleluia

 

Gospel                                                                       Mt 11:28-30

 

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."

 

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                           Weighed down or lifted up?

Do you feel lifted up by wearing the yoke of Jesus or is it so heavy that it weighs you down?

 

In the midst of plowing through our own personal struggles, other people need our help and our unconditional, patient, going-the-extra-mile love. If we’re yoked to Jesus, we have to respond like he would. It’s no wonder we feel burdened and exhausted. Yet Jesus says in our Gospel reading today, “Come to me when you are weary and find life burdensome, and I will refresh you.”

 

Ahhh, that sounds good, relaxing, and restorative. But then why does he add: “Take my yoke upon you”? How can we find the recovery we need while locked into his yoke of ministry and evangelization? A yoke is for doing hard work. Who wants to be yoked into hard labor like oxen churning up the hard-packed soil of some huge field? I get tired just visualizing this!

 

The restful peace that we long for is already within us, available every moment, because Jesus lives in us. We yoke ourselves to him, not to be dragged around and forced into hard labor, but to benefit from his strength. If we freely choose to serve as he serves and plow what he plows, we’re carried along by his supernatural strength. We are partnered with him, but he does the heaviest labor. His yoke not only binds us to his outreach ministry, it also binds us to his in-reach ministry. He serves us while we’re helping him serve others.

 

When we’re in pain because someone has made our work difficult, Jesus is beside us, kissing our wounds and affirming our goodness. When we’re challenged by a huge undertaking and we feel overwhelmed, Jesus guides us as he pulls ahead to keep us going in the right direction. When we feel tired, Jesus stops the fieldwork and sits down so that we can sit down too, and then he ministers to us, restoring our energy (unless we keeping pulling and pushing because we think we cannot afford to take time off).

 

When burdens feel so heavy that we cannot handle them, something’s amiss. We’re doing more than God wants us to do. Our priorities are wrong. Being yoked to Jesus is a relationship that only works well if we pay attention to him so that we follow him instead of straining to go off in a different direction or at too fast of a speed. Trying to take the lead is a struggle that wears us out and never succeeds unless the yoke breaks.

 

When we feel worn out, God is warning us: Slow down! Simplify your life! Make a change! Spend more time in prayer listening to me! Trust me! My ways are better than you think they are!

 

Jesus knows how to energize us and strengthen us. He knows what to give us so that our needs are met for the tasks ahead. Being yoked to Jesus means serving others the same way he serves us, and nothing more than that. Nor anything less.

 

Prayer

 

Lord, help me understand that it is not through my own efforts that I find peace, calm and rest. May I discover Your path in each labor, and may I go back to it whenever I turn away. Thank You Lord, because in it, I can find the longed-for shelter. Amen.

 

 

God Bless You.....

The Rosary Family

The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”