Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

One truth seminary training doesn’t teach you is this: church properties are always in need of repair!  We recently made some significant improvements to the HVAC system in the church: we’re still waiting to upgrade the sidewalk and install the Homeless Jesus; we’re working on lighting in the lobby.  That’s not even all that could be done in the future – a roof garden for the residents, and so forth.

But there’s one repair I know we’ll never need to make.  We can, literally, thank God for that.  What might that be?  Well, when you consider the weight of failings, burdens and pain that we all carry and bring in here with us every Sunday, you’d think that the floor beneath our feet would just cave in – but it doesn’t.

When you consider the heaviness of heart that so many bring here: the weight of hurt, the excess baggage of worries; the backpacks of guilt and anxiety; the suit cases of uncertainty and confusion; you’d think the floor would collapse beneath it all – but it doesn’t.  Jesus shores up the foundation of our hearts of prayer.

Jesus can promise what he does in the gospel today (peaceful rest, an easy yoke, a light burden) because he is always here to help us beat our wearied and burdened lives: indeed, he has already carried our lives to the Cross.  The “floor” beneath our hearts’ sanctuary does not collapse because its burdens are carried by Christ.

In Jesus’ words here, there’s no promise of a quick-fix to our problems, no instant solution for our difficulties.  We will find solace in Jesus’ comforting words when we have found the truth of his Father’s gracious will as it is revealed in Christ who chooses to reveal the same to us.

Sometimes we might wonder why Jesus hasn’t fixed all our problems after we’ve prayed long and hard for an answer to them.  But look at the One to whom we pray: the Crucified, the rejected and abandoned One.  If we ask Jesus to help us, we should not be surprised if leaning on his shoulder finds us on the way of the Cross, even as we hope and long for the healing and the peace we know is his to give.

We don’t all, always come to Mass preoccupied with our problems, but it’s not unusual that simply being here puts us in touch with our secret burdens and concerns.  If that happens for you, as it does for me, know that you are not alone.  Let’s remember that behind a smiling face may be a heart bathed in tears.  Let’s wonder about ways we might help others carry their burdens and ways we might let others help us carry ours.

Let’s look up at the Cross and remember that Jesus knows, so well, how heavy the load can be, how alone any one of us might find ourselves.  Let’s ask Jesus to reveal to us the truth of his Father’s gracious will and help us find in our own lives the peace of the promise of Jesus.

At this table, the Lord gathers us to be nourished with the gift of the sacrament of his Body and Blood in the eucharist; the sacrifice Jesus offers that we might find peaceful rest, a yoke that is easy, and a burden that is light.

Paul A. Magnano

Pastor