Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
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Today's Readings
Zech 9:9-10; Ps 145:1-2, 8-9, 10-11, 13-14; Rom 8:9, 11-13; Mt 11:25-30
Read today's readings at USCCBReflection
The Lord lifts up all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down. Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. The psalm is the praise of the one who has seen this lifting across the long experience of the life - the moments of being bowed down and the raising that followed.
Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened. The invitation is not to a state but to a person. The rest is not a condition Jesus describes; it is something he gives. I will give you rest. The exchange of yokes is the exchange of teachers: stop learning from the systems that have produced the burden and start learning from the one who is meek and humble of heart.
If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Paul's word is not about extraordinary spiritual achievement - it is about the daily practice of the exchange. The Spirit who dwells in you is the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead. That is the resource. Not self-discipline alone, but the indwelling that gives life to the mortal body.
Prayer of the Faithful
- For those who are bowed down by burdens they have carried so long they no longer remember how they began, that the Lord who raises up all who are bowed down would reach them specifically, we pray to the Lord.
- Where the deeds of the body are producing death and the person living them does not yet see it, that the Spirit who gives life to the mortal body would dwell there and be recognized, we pray to the Lord.
- In this Precious Blood month, for the heart that bore the meek King and learned from him all her life, we pray to the Lord.
Something to Do
Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. What is the specific burden you are carrying tonight that does not belong to the easy yoke? Name it. Bring it to the one who said this. The rest is given, not achieved.
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