Sunday, July 7, 2002
13th Week in Ordinary Time
1st Reading: Zec 9:9-10
Thus says the Lord: Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion!
Shout for joy, daughter of Jerusalem!
For your king is coming, just and victorious,
humble and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
No more chariots in Ephraim,
no more horses in Jerusalem,
for he will do away with them.
The warrior's bow shall be broken when he dictates peace to the nations.
He will reign from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
2nd Reading: Rom 8:9, 11-13
Brothers and sisters, your existence is not in the flesh, but in the
spirit, because the Spirit of God is within you. If you did not have the
Spirit of Christ, you would not belong to him.
And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is within you,
He who raised Jesus Christ from among the dead will also give life to
your mortal bodies. Yes, he will do it through his Spirit who dwells within
you.
Then, brothers, let us leave the flesh and no longer live according to
it. If not, we will die. Rather, walking in the Spirit, let us put to
death the body's deeds so that we may live.
Gospel:
Mt 11:25-30
On one occasion Jesus said, "Father, Lord of heaven and earth, I
praise you, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned
and revealed them to simple people. Yes, Father, this is what pleased
you.
Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father. No one knows the Son
except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those
to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
Come to me, all you who work hard and who carry heavy burdens and I will
refresh you. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and
humble of heart; and you will find rest. For my yoke is good and my burden
is light."
Commentary
"God must love the poor more for s/he made so many of them!"
This is what one vocation promotion material proclaims as it tries to
"sell" the virtue of poverty to prospective applicants to the
religious life.
What virtue could there be in a life of poverty and simplicity? How can
God have a preference for the poor and unlearned?
Can we blame a parent for loving and paying more attention to her/his
weaker and defenseless child? God is Mother-Father; s/he has an inclination
for the weak ones, so that the Son of God became human as a child of a
simple family in a poor village, nearly unheard of and rarely visited
by people of wealth and authority.
So who could better understand God's heart than those with whom he lived in solidarity?