July 18, 2013

Thursday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

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.
or:
R. Alleluia.
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.
or:
R. Alleluia.
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.
or:
R. Alleluia.
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.
or:
R. Alleluia.
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.
or:
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.

28. Come to me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest to your souls.
30. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

CHRYS; By what He had said, He brought His disciples to have a desire towards Him, showing them His unspeakable excellence; and now He invites them to Him, saying, Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden.

AUG; Whence do we all thus labor, but that we are mortal men, bearing vessels of clay which cause us much difficulty. But if the vessels of flesh are straitened, the regions of love will be enlarged. To what end then does He say, Come to me, all you who labor, but that you should not labor?

HILARY; He calls to Him those that were laboring under the hardships of the Law, and those who are burdened with the sins of this world.

JEROME; That the burden of sin is heavy, the Prophet Zachariah bears witness, saying, that wickedness sits upon a talent of lead. And the Psalmist fills it up, your iniquities are grown heavy upon me.

GREG; For a cruel yoke and hard weight of servitude it is to be subject to the things of time, to be ambitious of the things of earth, to cling to falling things, to seek to stand in things that stand not, to desire things that pass away, but to be unwilling to pass away with them. For while all things fly away against our wish, those things which had first harassed the mind in desire of gaining them, now oppress it with fear of losing them.

CHRYS; He said not, Come you, this man and that man, but all whosoever are in trouble, in sorrow, or in sin, not that I may exact punishment of you, but that I may remit your sins. Come you, not that I have need of your glory, but that I seek your salvation. And I will refresh you. Not, I will save you, only; but that is much greater, I will then refresh you, that is, I will set you in all quietness.

RABAN; I will not only take from you your burden, but will satisfy you with inward refreshment.

REMIG; Come, He says not with the feet, but with the life, not in the body, but in faith. For that is a spiritual approach by which any man approaches God; and therefore it follows, Take my yoke upon you.

RABAN; The yoke of Christ is Christ's Gospel which joins and yokes together Jews and Gentiles in the unity of the faith. This we are commanded to take upon us that is, to have in honor; lest perchance setting it beneath us, that is wrongly despising it, we should trample upon it with the miry feet of unholiness; wherefore He adds, learn of me.

AUG; Not to create a world, or to do miracles in that world; but that I am meek and lowly in heart. Would you be great? Begin with the least. Would you build up a mighty fabric of greatness? First think of the foundation of humility; for the mightier building any seek to raise, the deeper let him dig for his foundation. Whither is the summit of our building to rise? To the sight of God.

RABAN; We must learn then from our Savior to be meek in temper, and lowly in mind; let us hurt none, let us despise none, and the virtues which we have strewn in deed let us retain in our heart.

CHRYS; And therefore in beginning the Divine Law He begins with humility, and sets before us a great reward, saying, And you shall find rest for your souls. This is the highest reward, you shall not only be made useful to others, but shall make yourself to have peace; and He gives you the promise of it before it comes, but when it is come, you shall rejoice in perpetual rest. And that they might not be afraid because He had spoken of a burden, therefore He adds, For my yoke is pleasant, and my burden light.

HILARY; He holds forth the inducements of a pleasant yoke, and a light burden, that to them that believe He may afford the knowledge of that good which He alone knows in the Father.

GREG; What burden is it to put upon the neck of our mind that He bids us shun all desire that disturbs, and turn from the toilsome paths of this world?

HILARY; And what is more pleasant than that yoke, what lighter than that burden? To be made better, to abstain from wickedness, to choose the good, and refuse the evil, to love all men, to hate none, to gain eternal things, not to be taken with things present, to be unwilling to do that to another which yourself would be pained to suffer.

RABAN; But how is Christ's yoke pleasant, seeing it was said man above, Narrow is the way which leads to life? That which yoke is entered upon by a narrow entrance is in process of time made broad by the unspeakable sweetness of love.

AUG; So then the they who with an unfearing neck have submitted to the yoke of the Lord endure such hardships and dangers, that they seem beneath to be called not from labor to rest, but from rest to labor. But the Holy Spirit was there who, as the outward man decayed, renewed the inward man day by day, and giving a foretaste of spiritual rest in the rich pleasures of God in the hope of blessedness to come, smoothed all that seemed rough, lightened all that was heavy. Men suffer amputations and burning, that at the price of sharper pain they may be delivered from torments less but more lasting, as boils or swellings. What storms and dangers will not merchants undergo that they may acquire perishing riches? Even those who love not riches endure the same hardships; but those that love them endure the same, but to them they are not hardships. For love makes right easy, and almost nothing all things however dreadful and monstrous. How much more easily then does love do that for true happiness, which avarice does for misery as far as it can?

JEROME; And how is the Gospel lighter than the Law, seeing in the Law murder and adultery, but under the Gospel anger and concupiscence also, are punished? Because by the Law many things are commanded which the Apostle fully teaches us cannot be fulfilled; by the Law works are required, by the Gospel the will is sought for, which even if it goes not into act, yet does not lose its reward. The Gospel commands what we can do, as that we lust not; this is in our own power; the Law punishes not the will but the act, as adultery Suppose a virgin to have been violated in time of persecution, as here was not the will she is held as a virgin under the Gospel; under the Law she is cast out as defiled.

Catena Aurea Matthew 11

Catholic Culture

Daily Readings for: July 18, 2013
(Readings on USCCB website)

Collect: O God, who adorned the Priest Saint Camillus with a singular grace of charity towards the sick, pour out upon us, by his merits, a spirit of love for you, so that, serving you in our neighbor, we may, at the hour of our death, pass safely over to you. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

RECIPES

o Leek Soup

ACTIVITIES

o Policy-Making

PRAYERS

o July Devotion: The Precious Blood

o Novena to St. Camillus de Lellis

o Novena to St. Anne

Ordinary Time: July 18th

Optional Memorial of St. Camillus de Lellis (USA)

Old Calendar: St. Camillus of Lellis, confessor; St. Symphorosa and her Seven Sons, martyrs

St. Camillus, entirely without means of existence and from his early youth suffering from an incurable wound in his foot, experienced the horrors of the Roman hospitals in the sixteenth century in which the nursing and other staff were drawn from the dregs of the population. He effected a great change for the better, not content with making himself a slave of the sick and diseased he established for them a congregation of Clerks Regular pledged to this work, even when it involved those suffering from the plague, and whatever their state of life or disease.

St. Camillus died in Rome on July 14, 1614. Leo XIII proclaimed him patron of hospitals and the sick and Pius XI declared him the protector of all nuns who care for the sick. His name has been inserted in the Litany for the dying. This is also his feast according to the 1962 Missal of Bl. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.

Today is the commemoration of St. Symphorosa and her seven Sons. St. Symphorosa was a Roman martyr of unknown date. Her tomb is on the Via Tiburtina, nine miles from Rome, together with that of seven other martyrs whom a late tradition depicts as her sons.

St. Camillus de Lellis

St. Camillus' mother was nearly sixty years old when he was born (1550). As a youth he gave himself to the sinful pleasures of this world. His conversion dates from the feast of the Purification, 1575. Two attempts to enter the Capuchin Order were frustrated by an incurable sore on his leg. In Rome St. Camillus was received in a hospital for incurables; before long he was put in charge because of his ability and zeal for virtue. He brought to the sick every imaginable kind of spiritual and bodily aid.

At the age of thirty-two he began studying for Holy Orders and was not ashamed of being numbered with children. After ordination to the holy priesthood he founded a congregation of Regular Clerics, the "Ministers to the Sick." As a fourth vow the community assumed the duty of caring for the plague-ridden at the risk of their lives. With invincible patience Camillus persevered day and night in the service of the sick, performing the meanest of duties. His love shone forth most brightly when the city of Rome was stricken by epidemic and famine, and when the plague raged at Nola. Having suffered five different maladies, which he called God's mercy, he died in Rome at the age of sixty-five. On his lips was the prayer for the dying: "May the face of Christ Jesus shine gloriously upon you." Leo XIII declared him the heavenly patron of hospitals and added his name in the litany for the dying.

Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch

Patron: Bodily ills; hospitals; hospital workers; illness; nurses; sick people; sickness.

Symbols: red cross.
Often Portrayed As: Man with Guardian Angel

Things to Do:

"That we may conquer the enemy in the hour of our death and obtain the heavenly crown," should be our principal petition today. How familiar are you with the prayers for the dying as given in the liturgy? Do you possess a sick-call set, with a cross, candles, a white tablecloth, etc., in case the last sacraments must be administered? Are you aware that the Church has special prayers which should be said during the final moments before the soul's departure? Unfortunately these prayers are hardly ever explained by those having the care of souls. Express your desire now to responsible persons that you want a priest to assist you at the hour of death with the full liturgical ritual.
Become acquainted, while you are still healthy, with the ritual for the sick and dying. Most people find it very consoling. A litany first invokes the various patrons of a happy death. Thereupon follows that final, stirring imperative: "Go forth from this world, O Christian soul, in the Name of God the Father almighty, who created you; in the Name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, who suffered for you; in the Name of the Holy Ghost, who has been poured forth upon you. . . ." Another prayer, in litany form, reminds God of Old and New Testament saints whom He saved from danger and distress; for example, "Deliver, O Lord, the soul of Thy servant, as Thou didst deliver Susanna from an unjust condemnation." And after the sick person has breathed forth his soul, those about petition for a blessed journey home: "Come to his (her) aid, O saints of God; come forth to meet him (her), angels of the Lord, receiving his (her) soul, presenting it to the Most High." Familiarity with these texts will aid us in being interiorly prepared when our own last moment arrives.

St. Symphorosa and Her Seven Sons

St. Symphorosa, the wife of the holy martyr Getulius, together with her seven sons. Under Emperor Hadrian she was repeatedly struck in the face; then she was suspended by her hair, and lastly, tied to a rock, was thrown into a river. Her sons were bound to a pillar and their members disjointed with windlasses; thereupon, in various ways, they suffered martyrdom" (about the year 138). (Martyrology). Their bodies were placed in the Church of St. Michael near the fish market in Rome.

Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch

The Word Among Us

Meditation: Exodus 3:13-20

Saint Camillus de Lellis, Priest

“This is what you shall tell the children of Israel: I am sent me to you.” (Exodus 3:14)

Answering Moses’ question about his name, God replied, “I am who am” (Exodus 3:14). What on earth does this mean?

This whole exchange between Moses and God gets even more interesting when we see that Moses already knows whom he is talking to. God has already told him, “I am … the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob” (Exodus 3:6). In today’s reading, Moses is really asking what he should say to the Israelites when he tells them that God is going to rescue them. He’s not so interested in who God was in the past. Who is he right now? Is he big enough to overpower the Egyptian gods and do what he promises?

This was the real question that God answered. “Tell them I am sent you.” He is not just the God who “was,” the God of Israel’s ancestors. He remains their God today. He remains a potent, powerful God whose presence never fades. He is a God whose love is everlasting. He is the eternal, the almighty. He simply is, at all times, in all places.

This answer shows how accessible, even humble, God is. Pagan gods required worshippers to bring them gifts—and even then they didn’t guarantee that their prayers would be answered. By contrast, Israel’s God seeks out his people and meets them where they are. He comes to them, offering salvation and freedom. His love for them doesn’t depend on their offerings. He simply is, and what he is happens to be very simple and life-giving: He is love and redemption!

Who is God? He is the God of Moses and Abraham and David. He is the God of Jesus and Joseph and Mary. But he is also your God—your Father, your provider, your redeemer, and your protector. As you go through your day, remind yourself that God is the One who is. He who created the earth and stretched out the heavens also created you and stretched out a path for you to follow. So worship him. Praise him. Love him and trust in him. He is, and always will be, I am!

“Father, I believe that you are the One who is. Thank you for your presence and your care for me.”

Psalm 105:1,5,8-9,24-27; Matthew 11:28-30

Vultus Christi

Attend to the words

Dom Mark

on July 18, 2013 10:25 AM |

A Remedy for Distractions

A priest whom I know well shared with me an experience that has brought him much peace after suffering for many years from the plague of distractions during Holy Mass. Father X. had very nearly abandoned all hope of being able to get through the Canon of the Mass without being assailed with a sandstorm of distractions. Then, quite unexpectedly, one day in the middle of the Canon of the Mass, he heard a voice saying to him inwardly, "Attend to the words." How simple. How utterly obvious. Instantly, he began attending to the sacred words of the Canon, giving himself to each word with a gentle application of his mind and heart.

The Words of the Missal

As a result of his obedience to this mysterious inspiration, Father X. now celebrates Holy Mass in peace of mind. His soul, in some way, enters the words of the Missal, and the words of the Missal enter his soul. So impressed was I by his experience that I thought it worth sharing with the readers of Vultus Christi, especially with my brother priests.

Vultus Christi

Monsieur Vincent et Mère Mectilde

Dom Mark

on July 18, 2013 5:07 PM |

When Saints Help Saints

I have long believed that saints, like the fruit of the vine, grow in clusters. The history of the saints in every age bears this out. Saint Vincent de Paul was no exception. He was in relation with a myriad of other holy souls of France's Grand Siècle, the age of what Henri Brémond called her "mystical invasion."

Saint Vincent de Paul

The ravages of The Thirty Years War in Mother Mectilde's native Lorraine stirred Saint Vincent de Paul to an active compassion. As soon as Monsieur Vincent was informed of the woes that we desolating the Lorraine, he moved quickly to collect offerings everywhere. He sent to this unfortunate country twelve of his missionaries to whom he joined some brothers of his Congregation, who had secrets to treat the plague and knew medicine and surgery.

Thus did Saint Vincent's Congregation of the Mission bring relief to those distressed by the war, those turned out of their homes and reduced to a miserable poverty.

Homeless Benedictines

In 1639 Mother Mectilde and her Benedictines were among the many refugees of the War in wandering from place to place in search of a home. One of Saint Vincent's priests, a certain Julien Guérin, sought to arrange for hospitality at the Abbey of Montmartre in Paris. The Lady Abbess of Montmartre refused to receive the homeless Benedictines professed to the same Rule as herself and the nuns of her great abbey; she argued that the admission of strangers into religious houses caused disorder, and that it was better to refuse religious hospitality than to have to turn them out later for unsuitable conduct.

Pilgrimage to Benoîte-Vaux

Mother Mectilde was saddened but undaunted. Five leagues away from Saint-Mihiel, towards the city of Verdun, a little to the left of the course of the Meuse, there was valley made famous by the miraculous revelation of a statue of the Blessed Virgin to a group of lumberjacks, and by the manifestation of Angels singing Ave Maria. (Interesting detail: Had Mother Mectilde followed the Meuse north, she would have arrived in Tegelen in The Netherlands where her daughters have a monastery to this day.)

The sanctuary built on the spot was a place of pilgrimage. Mother Mectilde, together with two other nuns, set out on foot for the sanctuary of Notre-Dame de Benoîte-Vaux on 1 August 1641. Upon arrival there, they entrusted their written petition to a Premonstratensian in attendance, who placed it on the altar. Prostrate at the feet of the Blessed Virgin, Mother Mectilde and her companions spent the whole night imploring her protection and assistance. They heard Holy Mass and received Holy Communion at 4:00 in the morning on the second day of August; it was the feast of Our Lady of the Angels. With all possible fervour they recommended their sorry plight again to the Mother of God.

To Paris

When they returned to Saint-Mihiel, it was obvious to all whom saw Mother Mectilde and her two companions that they had received extraordinary graces; they seemed transfigured. Much later, Mother Mectilde let slip a few words that intimated that, in the sanctuary of Benoîte-Vaux, Our Lady revealed to her God's designs on her life.

A few days later, a commissary of Monsieur Vincent, named Mathieu Renard, asked to see the prioress and, with no preliminaries, said, "I have come, Mother, to take two of your religious to Montmartre, I have orders to do this, and Madame the Duchess of Aiguillon has provided me with money for the journey."

What happened at Montmartre that caused the Abbess to have so complete a change of heart? On the very night that Mother Mectilde and her companions were praying at the sanctuary of Benoîte-Vaux, the Lady Abbess of Montmartre woke up all of a sudden and summoned the two religious her slept in her bedchamber to look after her in illness. The Abbess was in a dreadful state of fright. She said that it seemed to her that she saw the Most Holy Virgin and her Divine Son reproaching her for her lack of hospitality to the poor homeless Benedictines in the Lorraine; they threatened her with a rigourous judgment should they, through her fault, perish in their misery and need. The next day the Abbess convened her senior religious; all agreed that they had to execute the manifest will of God.

Paris, Saint Louise de Marillac and Saint Vincent de Paul

Mother Mectilde and Mother Louise were chosen to go to Montmartre. They began their journey on 21 August and arrived in Paris on August 28, 1642. Matthieu Renard led them to the home of Mademoiselle Legras (Saint Louise de Marillac) in the Faubourg Saint Martin. Saint Louise de Marillac received the homeless Benedictines with an exquisite charity. The next morning, Mother Mectilde and her companions were presented to Saint Vincent de Paul. The very same day the doors of the grand Abbey of Montmartre opened to welcome them. Once the Lady Abbess had met Mother Mectilde, she wanted nothing more than to keep her at the Abbey of Montmartre.

Towards a New Beginning

It was in uncertainty and poverty that Mother Mectilde de Bar arrived in Paris. After vicissitudes too many to be counted, it was in Paris that Mectilde de Bar laid the foundations of the Benedictines of Perpetual Adoration of the Most Holy Sacrament.

Our Own Need

Three years ago, my own little Benedictine community was searching for a permanent home to allow our charism of Eucharistic adoration and intercession for priests to grow and flourish. We entrusted our need and our search to Saint Vincent de Paul. He who helped Mectilde de Bar was not indifferent to our plight. He guided us all the way to Silverstream in County Meath. For this, I want, today, to give public thanks to Saint Vincent.

Regnum Christi

Weary of Heart

| SPIRITUAL LIFE | SPIRITUALITY

Thursday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Father Shawn Aaron, LC

Matthew 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 your selves. For my yoke is easy and my burden light."

Introductory Prayer: Almighty and ever-living God, I seek new strength from the courage of Christ our shepherd. I believe in you, I hope in you, and I seek to love you with all my heart, all my soul, all my mind, and all my strength. I want to be led one day to join the saints in heaven, where your Son Jesus Christ lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever.

Petition: Lord Jesus, meek and humble of heart, help me to take on your yoke.

1. Come to Me: If you struggle daily to do what is morally right even when those around you take shortcuts, then come to Jesus. If the life of selfish pleasure and illicit gain seems exceedingly attractive, then come to Jesus. If you are burdened with your patterns of sin and weaknesses of character that affect your vocation as a spouse, a parent, a friend, a consecrated soul, a Christian…, then come to Jesus. If life seems unfair and God seems distant at best, then come to Jesus. He calls us not to a set of principles and noble ideals, but to his very person. We do not follow rules for the sake of rules; we follow Jesus. Only when we have first come to him will we understand the need for the rules which simply help protect the dignity of this relationship.

2. Learn from Me: St. Paul admonishes the Galatians to live in the freedom of Christ: "For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery" (Galatians 5:1). Yet in his letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul invites us to be "slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart" (6:5). To be a slave means that I submit to the will of another or am subordinated (unwillingly) to one stronger than I in some way. One who is a slave of passion, vanity, selfishness or any other vice is subject to that vice as something more powerful than oneself. But Jesus calls us friends and not slaves (cf. John 15:14-15). So to be a "slave" of Christ means to entrust my life to him freely with the intention of following where he leads. Experience shows that he always guides us down the path that leads to our happiness and fulfillment, even when it entails the cross.

3. Rest for Yourselves: These words mean “rest,” not in the sense of cessation from work and struggle, but in the sense of peace of soul, joy and profound happiness. This is the rest that we all long for, the rest that will one day be uninterrupted in the bliss of heaven. We have each met individuals who experience this peace and joy despite their circumstances. Notice that Jesus does not promise to take away the burdens, the trials, the sufferings. But if we take his yoke upon ourselves, if we submit to his plan, his will, his love, he guarantees the joy. If you have never experienced it, then begin today; give him what you know in your heart he is asking of you. Although it may hurt at first, as does every yoke, this one brings the lightness of peace and the ease of joy.

Conversation with Christ: Blessed Lord, you lead me towards everlasting peace if I will simply follow, but following does not always seem simple. Give me the very things you ask of me: faith, generosity, courage, trust, love. With these gifts and your grace I will have the strength necessary for the journey.

Resolution: Today I will pray an extra decade of the rosary for the persons who are farthest away from Jesus.

Ask for Grace to Believe

by Food For Thought on July 18, 2013 ·

Jesus, says to all these people and to us: “Come to me.” Yes, he tells
us to come near, closer to him. Do you go closer to him when heavy
burdens make you feel low, when you are anxious; or in pain? Jesus
says: “And I will give your rest.” We could translate it as: “I shall
lessen your pain, I shall give you some relief, I shall take your all
too heavy burdens off your back.”

Let us thank the Lord for giving us such consoling words. Is
confession for you a time when you unload your burdens? Is it a time
of peace and joy, a time of liberation? Are your prayer times so many
boring obligations, or moments when you come close to Jesus and find
rest at his side?

Pause for some time during the day to reflect on these words, these
secret confidences of Jesus. Try to imagine how this was expressed in
Jesus’ attitudes, his behavior and in the way he spoke and the way he
lived. In spite of Jesus saying that his yoke is easy and his burden
light, at times we can hardly carry our burden. We find it very heavy.

Ask Jesus for the grace to continue believing in him even when the
burden is heavy and to place your full trust in him. A real surrender
of ourselves to God will give us comfort and fill us with peace and
joy. Our faith, our vocation, our religious obligations should never
appear to us like burdens. Love can only be liberating and radiant,
with joy. By this joy can the true disciples of Jesus be recognized.

One Bread, One Body

Language: English | Español

All Issues > Volume 29, Issue 4

<< Thursday, July 18, 2013 >>

St. Camillus de Lellis

Exodus 3:13-20
View Readings

Psalm 105:1, 5, 8-9, 24-27

Matthew 11:28-30
Similar Reflections

"MORE THAN WE BARGAINED FOR"

"Come to Me, all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will refresh you." —Matthew 11:28

Jesus commands the weary and burdened to come to Him to be refreshed. This is unusual because you normally don't have to command weary people to seek refreshment. Nevertheless, weary and burdened people are reluctant to come to Jesus because He will not only give them refreshment and rest, but also His yoke and burden (Mt 11:29-30). Jesus will not take orders from us, but give orders to us. He will be our Lord.

For example, the Israelites came to the Lord to ask Him to free them from slavery in Egypt. The Lord did this, and also led them into the discipline of the desert. He gave them the Ten Commandments along with a few hundred other commandments. The Israelites rebelled because they didn't like the austerities of the desert and the self-denial called for by the commandments.

God did what the people wanted and much more. This is why we are reluctant to come to Jesus for refreshment and rest — because He will give us more than we bargained for. Like Jesus' hometown folk, we find Jesus "too much" for us (Mk 6:3).

Prayer: Jesus, may I let You love me more.

Promise: God said: "I am concerned about you and about the way you are being treated." —Ex 3:16

Praise: St. Camillus was rejected twice as a novice because of a leg ulcer, which led him to a life of ministry to the incurably ill.

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Matthew
	English: Douay-Rheims	Latin: Vulgata Clementina	Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000)
	Matthew 11
28.	Come to me, all you that labour, and are burdened, and I will refresh you.	Venite ad me omnes qui laboratis, et onerati estis, et ego reficiam vos.	δευτε προς με παντες οι κοπιωντες και πεφορτισμενοι καγω αναπαυσω υμας
29.	Take up my yoke upon you, and learn of me, because I am meek, and humble of heart: and you shall find rest to your souls.	Tollite jugum meum super vos, et discite a me, quia mitis sum, et humilis corde : et invenietis requiem animabus vestris.	αρατε τον ζυγον μου εφ υμας και μαθετε απ εμου οτι πραος ειμι και ταπεινος τη καρδια και ευρησετε αναπαυσιν ταις ψυχαις υμων
30.	For my yoke is sweet and my burden light.	Jugum enim meum suave est, et onus meum leve.	ο γαρ ζυγος μου χρηστος και το φορτιον μου ελαφρον εστιν