Come to Jesus for Rest for your Soul

Thursday of the Fifteenth week in Ordinary Time    18 July 2013

First Reading:  Exodus 3:13-20. 

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 Israelites: I AM sent me to you."

God spoke further to Moses, "Thus shall you say to the Israelites: 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 is my title for all generations.

"Go and assemble the elders of the Israelites, 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.

 

Psalm 105. 

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.

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.

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.

He sent Moses his servant;

Aaron, whom he had chosen.
They wrought his signs among them,  
and wonders in the land of Ham.
 

Matt 11:28-30. 

Jesus said: “Come to me, all you who labour 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."

  Commentary of the day :

  Pope Francis

 Homily of 19/03/2013, Pontifical inauguration Mass (trans. © Libreria Editrice Vaticana)

 Become my disciples "for I am meek and humble of heart"

 

Dear friends... the core of the Christian vocation is Jesus! Let us protect Jesus in our lives, so that we can protect others, so that we can protect creation! The vocation of being a “protector”, however, is not just something involving us Christians alone; it also has a prior dimension which is simply human, involving everyone. It means protecting all creation, the beauty of the created world, as the Book of Genesis tells us and as Saint Francis of Assisi showed us. It means respecting each of God’s creatures and respecting the environment in which we live. It means protecting people, showing loving concern for each and every person, especially children, the elderly, those in need, who are often the last we think about. It means caring for one another in our families: husbands and wives first protect one another, and then, as parents, they care for their children, and children themselves, in time, protect their parents. It means building sincere friendships... In the end, everything has been entrusted to our protection, and all of us are responsible for it. Be protectors of God’s gifts!...Please, I would like to ask all those who have positions of responsibility in economic, political and social life, and all men and women of goodwill: let us be “protectors” of creation, protectors of God’s plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment. Let us not allow omens of destruction and death to accompany the advance of this world! But to be “protectors”, we also have to keep watch over ourselves! Let us not forget that hatred, envy and pride defile our lives! Being protectors, then, also means keeping watch over our emotions, over our hearts, because they are the seat of good and evil intentions (Lk 6,45): intentions that build up and tear down! We must not be afraid of goodness or even tenderness!