This Sermon is prepared by
Rev.Fr.Peter Jayakanthan sss
Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament
Corpus Christi Catholic Church,
Houston, Texas, US
14th Sunday of Ordinary TimeUnload your burdens!.....…...He makes it Easy and Light!Zec 9: 9-10; Rom 8: 9, 11-13; Mt 11: 25-30Dear Sisters, Brothers and Children, I welcome you all to this Eucharistic celebration during our Children’s summer vacation. The liturgy of today calls us to realize the importance of peace in the midst of stress filled world. We shall bring all our moments of struggle and strain to the altar of God that the Lord who calls us to come with our burdens, may offer us rest and peace. •Who is going to take the Soccer world cup this time in Brazil? There is lot of pressure among the players and fans. We know how Uruguay player Luis bit the Italian player and later asked apology for doing this under stress. There is stress in all the fields and how do we act, aggressively or affably! • Few years of research statistics on stress reveal various truths in this country. Many still report extreme stress (an 8, 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale) and even more say their stress has increased in the past year. On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 is “little or no stress” and 10 is “a great deal of stress”. •Almost three-quarters (72 percent) of respondents say that their stress level has increased or stayed the same over the past five years and 80 percent say their stress level has increased or stayed the same in the past year. Only 20 percent said their stress level has decreased in the past year. •Approximately half of all diseases can be linked to stress-related origins, including ulcers, colitis, bronchial asthma, high blood pressure and some forms of cancer. Unmanaged stress is a leading factor in homicides, suicides, child abuse, spouse abuse and other aggravated assaults. “Come to me all of you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11: 28). •Sickness, pain, new prognosis, economical struggle, problem in relationship, hectic work, constant travelling, spiritual involvement and more expectations may cause stress or pressure in our life. What do we do those moments of burden, pressure, stress and struggle? Do we aggressively act or remain numb? In both the ways we don’t improve our life rather we become worse. So we are called to response affably in all those circumstances. If we remain numb we stay depressed, if we act aggressively we remain angry with bitterness. How can we be affable and meek! In the first reading Prophet Zachariah challenges the people to rise above their numbness. People were caught between Babylonian exile and Greek oppression. The physical suffering, pain and the emotional imbalance made them either to be aggressive in their words or to be numb in their life. It is because they felt lost in the battle; they strongly felt that their hopes and promise of God was shattered. Here Zachariah tells them to get up and move to rebuild their life and their city. He says that the divided nations of Judah and Israel will be one, peace will prevail over enmity. He offers the example of Messianic king coming on donkey. In those days, the king used a donkey for ceremonial rides in times of peace and a horse during wartime, indicating that the purpose of the King in Israel was not imperialism but justice and fidelity to a higher, invisible King -- God. The donkey represented simplicity, stability and peaceful days of rest. In today’s gospel, Mathew quotes the contrast teaching of Jesus to disciples and other followers. Jews were clinging on to their mosaic law and trusted only on their knowledge and intellect. This meaningless and numerous laws were forced harshly on to ordinary people as burden, strain and stress. Here Jesus calls them to trust in Him and come to Him with all the burdens and struggles. He calls them to unload their stress and burden because He is meek and gentle; also His yoke is easy to carry their burden. Why does he say He is meek?Is it not being passive and docile! Meek or meekness comes from the Greek word, praotes, which means not easily provoked. Aristotle, who defined virtue as a mean between two extremes, understood praotes or meekness as the balance between orgilotes or excessive anger and aorgesia which means a complete lack of anger. A meek person would therefore understand that the control and direction of his/her temper could be “one of the great moral dynamics of the world.” Meekness is not weakness, but power which is fully controlled. Another way of understanding praotes or meekness is as a quality which makes a person capable of learning and open to God. Those lacking in meekness are so convinced of their own knowledge that they are incapable of being taught. The mention of little ones or merest children who are open to the mysteries of God is reminiscent of the poor ones or anawim of the Hebrew Scriptures who in meekness and faith looked to God as the source and center of their lives. When Jesus invited believers to “learn from me, for I am meek (or gentle) and humble of heart” (gospel), he was in effect professing his openness and obedience to the will of his Father and calling others to follow his lead. So, Meekness, however, is not simple compliance; it is rather a daring acquiescence that will trust God regardless of the circumstances.”Come to me, My yoke is Easy:Rabbis referred to the Torah or law as a yoke, God gave His People basic guidelines for a holy life, but the Pharisees ended up making God's Law inaccessible and impossible to follow. For the orthodox Jew, religion was a matter of burdens: 613 Mosaic laws and thousands of oral interpretations which dictated every aspect of life. Jesus invites burdened Israel and us to take his yoke upon our shoulders. In Palestine, ox-yokes were made of wood and were made to fit the ox comfortably. For a contemporary analogy, To take the yoke of Christ is to assure that we carry with Him, He carries with us. We are not alone, yoke offers the support of the two. So God is on the other side of yoke, our burden and stress become light.” Pope St. John XXIII during the Second Vatican Council days used to submit all his anxieties to God by this prayer every night: “Lord, Jesus, I’m going to bed. It's your Church. Take care of it!” When Blessed Mother Teresa was asked how do you manage your day today struggles and burdens , she said, “I am a little pencil in God's hands. He does the thinking. He does the writing. He does everything and sometimes it is really hard because it is a broken pencil and He has to sharpen it a little more.” –Amen. 
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