Thursday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Today’s gospel reading has spoken very personally to believers of every generation. There is something about that invitation of Jesus, ‘Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened’, that makes us feel it is addressed to each one of us personally. In its original setting, Jesus was addressing himself to those who had come to feel overburdened by the very strict interpretation of the Jewish Law that the religious authorities were attempting to impose on them. However, that invitation of Jesus speaks to us all whenever we feel burdened for whatever reason. As we hear Jesus’ invitation, ‘Come to me’, and respond to it, we also hear the promise that he makes to us, ‘I will give you rest’. When we hear the word ‘rest’ the experience of sleep might come to mind, or, at least, inactivity. However, on the lips of Jesus, the word ‘rest’ would suggest the experience of suddenly coming upon an oasis of refreshment, having travelled through a desert terrain. It is the experience that is referred to in the Psalm, ‘the Lord is my Shepherd’, ‘near restful waters he leads me to revive my drooping spirit’. The Lord is promising that if we come to him, we will experience a renewal of our spirits, a greater fullness of life, which is a foretaste of that fullness of life, that eternal rest, that awaits us beyond this earthly life. Jesus speaks of himself as gentle and humble in heart, qualities that will prove truly refreshing and life-giving for those who labour and are overburdened. Of course, Jesus’ way of life is demanding, but Jesus is suggesting that it is not burdensome because he travels this way with us. He calls us to walk in his way out of the strength we receive from deeply personal relationship he desires to have with each one of us.

Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, Ireland

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