Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
On this July 4th weekend, we recall our land’s independence from a foreign king and a foreign government. We have thrown off the yoke of King George III; we are a free and independent nation. For 250 years we have been learning what it means to live as an independent and free society.
Today Jesus invites us to consider taking upon a yoke as we go forward as disciples of him. The yoke of King George was too heavy for this nation, but the yoke of our God, we are told by Jesus, “is easy and light.”
What is the yoke of Jesus? The yoke of Jesus is about the kingdom of God, learning to love others as we love ourselves. As disciples of Jesus we take on the yoke of the Gospel. When life feels heavy, we turn to our God, and our God helps to make our burdens light. There are many things in life that may seem like a yoke, a burden, but if we look at them in a new way, we see our God helping us to carry our burden.
As Jesus invites us to consider the childlike, let me share with you a story:
The Fable of The Birds
At the beginning of time, all the animals were walking around discovering what it was like to be alive. All except the birds! They were doing nothing but complaining because God had given them a heavy burden that he’d given to no other animals: those awkward appendages on their shoulders. God must be punishing them somehow. Why did they have to carry these things around, making it hard to walk? “Why?" they asked. “Why us?” Finally, two or three of the more adventurous birds began to move their appendages. They began to flutter them, and soon they discovered that the very things they regarded as a burden actually made it possible for them to fly. And no other animals could fly. The “heavy burden” turned out to be a wonderful gift.
Is there something in your life that at first glance seemed a burden, but later was seen as a gift?
One reason why we value the innocent and simple among us is that they can help us to see life and who we are with new eyes. The simple or innocent can sometimes help us see what we thought was a burden as a gift.
In the lives of the saints, we read about many who took what seemed to be a burden and made it an asset:
- The first disciples were simple fishermen. They were not scholarly, they couldn’t read, but they took their experience of Jesus and let it form them as disciples. What was a burden became an asset.
- Peter denied the Lord on the eve of his death. This made him more compassionate to sinners and those who struggled to have courage.
- Paul was blinded for 3 days; a former killer of Christians saw with new eyes and preached the good news to the Gentiles.
- Thomas doubted the Resurrection but came to faith in his doubt.
- Theresa the Little Flower loved Jesus and others with the simple love of a child of God.
- St. Kateri looked for and saw God present in the trees and the nature of the forests where she made her home.
- Mother Teresa of Calcutta saw our Lord present in the sick and dying in India.
- Blessed Stan Rother, a farmer’s son from Oklahoma who couldn’t read Latin, learned to speak in the native tongue of the men and women who he ministered with in Guatemala.
With the eyes of a child, with childlike faith, we learn to see the burdens we carry as paths to faith in the help and care of our God.
Let us give thanks today for the gift of freedom and let us give thanks for the gift of our God who makes our burdens light.
Our readings today speak of hospitality: In the first reading from 2 Kings, we hear how the woman made a room for the prophet Elisha. In the letter to the Hebrews, we read, “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” In the Gospel, Jesus speaks, “and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.” Hospitality is the essence of the life as a Christian. Many religious communities include this action as part of their rule. Hospitality is not easy. It seems that people are not in need on my schedule. Hospitality means stopping my actions and attending to others for a time. People are not in need on my schedule. Yet if I neglect them, I may miss out on entertaining angels. This summer there will be many who are in need. To them we offer our time and our hospitality. We are fortunate in our community that a hot meal is available seven days a week. I meet many in need when I stop to help out at Saturday’s Bread. Catholic Charities provides lunches to our students in July and August. You may want to consider helping to provide meals to our homeless and our students in the summer. It is so easy to get caught up in my schedule and I miss the chance to meet Christ in my neighbors and to miss out on entertaining angels. One thing I admired about Bishop Hubbard is that when he spoke to you, you were made to feel you were the most important person. As he spoke to you, he was moving on down the line, but for that moment you felt important, you were the most important person at that moment. How often do we make others feel that they are taking up our time or are a burden? On Thursday we celebrated LEON Day (Noel spelled backwards), which reminds us that we are six months away from Christmas. Maybe this is a good time to revisit a Christmas story. La Befana: The Witch of Christmas By Il Postino Staff and Tessa Derksen The legend of Befana began thousands of years ago and remains to this day a tradition practiced by Italian children and their families. As the story goes, one day, the three Magi left their country bearing special gifts of gold, incense and myrrh for the new-born Jesus Christ. They were guided by a star across many countries. At every village that they passed, people ran to meet them and accompany them in their journey. But there was one old woman who did not join the Magi. She claimed to be too busy with her housework and promised to join them later when she had time. The next day, she realized her mistake and frantically ran after the Magi with gifts for the child, still clutching her broom. But it was too late – the Magi were long gone. Let us not be too busy to meet Christ in our neighbors. Let us not be a Befana.
The last two popes chose names that pointed out what their main concern in their ministry would be. Pope Francis took the name of a man who advocated for the poor among us. Pope Leo XIV took the name of the pope who advocated for dignity of the workers in the world. Pope Leo XIII wrote the first encyclical speaking of the dignity of workers. His encyclical Rerum Novarum spoke of how the church should be an instrument for change in the world. Pope Leo XIV, in his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas , addresses his concern for the use of AI in our world. AI used in the correct way can be of benefit to humanity. Used in the wrong way, AI can lead to taking away the humanity of people. He uses two images to speak of AI. AI used in the wrong way can be like the Tower of Babel. The Tower of Babel, as found in the book of Genesis, was a tower built by people who sought glory for themselves. They had a single technology, a single goal all directed toward themselves without a concern for God. They started out united and the project caused division. Here is how Pope Leo puts it in his encyclical: The result is not unity, but dispersion. Babel thus reveals the limits of any effort that, however grandiose, arises from self-affirmation, sacrifices human dignity for efficiency and aspires to reach heaven without God’s blessing. The second image is taken from the book of Nehemiah, where the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt. This is the image for the correct use of AI -- a technology that unites people, with God at the center, and preserves the dignity of the human person. Again, Pope Leo: It is an undertaking with God at the center, which rebuilds relationships before rebuilding with stones. Thus, ancient Jerusalem rediscovers a common language -- not one of uniformity, but one of communion, namely the harmony that arises when all persons assume their own role and recognize that their strength comes from the Lord. The pope expresses concern that AI may be used in ways that deny the unique nature of humans. As we go forward, we need to decide what we will build: will we build a Tower of Babel or the city of Jerusalem? The Pope ends his reflections by giving Mary’s song, the Magnificat , as the example on how we go forward: With the same faith as Mary, let us become “weavers of hope” in our world, sharing who we are and what we have, so that the presence of Jesus may grow among us and his Kingdom take shape. In the humble fidelity of daily life, even the era of AI can become a time in which the Holy Spirit brings about the civilization of love in our lives. Indeed, the Lord continues to make all things new and offers every era the possibility of becoming part of salvation history in the light of the Incarnation. I entrust our desire to the Mother of Christ, to the Woman of the Magnificat, that she may guide our steps through this time of change and preserve in each of us true faith in the Gospel, so that we may bear witness to the grandeur of humanity, in which God has made his dwelling.
Jesus’ message in the Gospel passage we hear today is one of encouragement for the disciples. He has three main messages: First, proclaim the Gospel ; second, “ Do not be afraid ” — three times in this passage Jesus tells them literally “do not be afraid” — and third, God is with them; they are not abandoned . It's easy to hear and understand these messages in the context of the early Christians being persecuted and even martyred for being Christians and living the Gospel. Christians were a super-minority group that had beliefs challenging the majority. But that is not our experience today and stories of the witness of those Christians for the faith centuries and millennia ago might not ring with relevance in our contemporary experience — or do they? In 1999, our country experienced the horrific tragedy of the Columbine High School shooting. In the midst of that massacre one of the students, a 17-year-old girl named Valeen Schnurr, who had already been shot, was asked by one of the shooters if she believed in God. She was afraid to say ‘yes’, fearing they would shoot her again, but. afraid she was already dying and not wanting to deny her faith, did not want to say ‘no’. So she said, “Yes, I do believe in God.” Asked by the shooter, “Why?” she said, “Because I do, and because my mom and dad have taught me.” Would any of us have the courage to respond similarly? I pray so. What an incredible modern-day witness to the faith we profess when we say, “I believe in God the Father Almighty...”. And what a witness to the faith we profess in the Rite of Christian Baptism of infants when we pray for the parents, saying, “you are this child’s first teachers of the faith; may you be the best of teachers.” Persecution takes many forms, from oppression to repression to physical violence, kidnappings and, yes, even killings. Many Christians around the world still experience persecution, especially in North Korea, the Middle East, other parts of Asia, and in several countries in Africa. We have parishioners at St. Mary’s with relatives in Syria, who report to them of the struggles of the Christian church there, where the Christian population is about a quarter to a third of the size it was 15 years ago. Many have fled to be able to live and profess their belief in our Lord Jesus Christ. Would we have the courage to persist in practicing our faith where it is difficult to do so, or the courage to leave home to find a place where we can? As real as this persecution for the faith is in the world today, it is not our contemporary experience in the United States. For this we can be grateful to our county’s founding fathers and the freedom of religion won for us and preserved to this day. This does not mean, however, that we are insulated from persecution here and now in the US for proclaiming and living the Gospel truths Jesus gave us. For us in the United States today, it is more likely to take the form of ridicule for standing up for the Gospel message of love, compassion, peace and mercy. We might experience it in standing up for the poor and marginalized, whom many do not see as deserving of support and mercy, seeing their situations as just consequences of their own bad decisions. We might experience it in advocating for peace, amidst clamor for war. When military action in Venezuela and the war in Iran began earlier this year, our Holy Father Pope Leo XIV spoke out publicly and with increasing directness in advocating for peace and against the growing use of military force in resolving situations. Pope Leo was not expressing his opinions but proclaiming and applying the Gospel message of peace, communion, and respect for human life to our current contemporary situation, as shepherd of the Gospel. For that he was roundly criticized and ridiculed by leaders of our country. Yet he had the courage to speak these Gospel truths to power, believing he has no other mandate, saying “As a shepherd, I cannot be in favor of war”. What are the ways we might be called to proclaim the Gospel in the face of persecution? How do our lives make that proclamation, using words when necessary? Do we have the courage to make that proclamation, the courage of so many martyrs, the courage of Valeen Schnurr, the courage of Pope Leo XIV, the courage of so many of our brothers and sisters around us? And can we find that courage in Jesus’ encouragement : “Do not be afraid. I am with you always.”
