14th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2017 – Year A

A Comforting Invitation…

At certain times we have all felt under pressure, stressed or stretched to our limits.  This may have been because of personal or family problems, difficulties, worries, sickness, pressure of work or maybe the lack of work.  At some stage we have all felt overburdened by what life throws at us. At times like that we all need a helping hand or an encouraging word.   We need human support but we also need something more.     

In today’s Gospel Christ is offering us a comforting invitation when we feel overburdened: “Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened and I will give you rest.”   Christ’s invitation is an open door for us to enter at any time but especially when we feel the pressures of daily living getting too much for us to handle. He invites us to go to Him and he offers us rest and peace.     

He invites us to learn from Him because of two beautiful qualities he has – gentleness and humility.  We need these two qualities so much in our world today where aggression and arrogance are often portrayed as necessary virtues if one is to succeed.

Today’s psalm praises God because “He is kind and full of compassion, slow to anger, abounding in love.”   God’s love and compassion took flesh in the person of Jesus Christ.  As one writer said: “Jesus is the compassion of God.”

Knowing His great love and compassion should encourage us to take up the wonderful invitation Christ offers us today and to learn from His gentleness and humility.

Fr Des Corrigan SMA Dromantine