14th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A, 05/07/2020.

We began this year with hope and trust that we shall continue to find the meaning of life. And as believers in Christ, we hoped to live the purpose of life that matches God’s purpose. Again, we desired to develop our gifts and talents for our self-actualization and the service of others. Along the journey of this life, we were faced with the difficult and challenging times that we continue to experience due to the Covid19 pandemic and other life challenges. The challenging events happening in our lives today have taken our joy in some ways while affecting our social and economic life. These unprecedented events have taken away the lives of our dear ones, friends, and those known to us. With this unneeded experience, we have begun to feel the burden and the weight of life. Many have lost jobs, nations locked down, some of us stressed and distressed, traumatized, lonely, and are experiencing doubts.

Nonetheless, Jesus is entering our lives with these words, “Come to me all you who labour, and are burdened, I will give you rest,” he teaches us that the life of his disciples is that of serving others after his example. This Sunday, there is a welcome thread of joy and encouragement woven throughout the readings. Zechariah in his second part of his book proclaims that those who have been oppressed can now rejoice. Their joy comes from the King who enters with a gift of peace to his people. It is Jesus the King who is entering in our present burdening events in our lives. His way is that of simplicity and humility, bringing peace to all nations. By Jesus declaring that he is one with the Father and that all things have been entrusted to him, he invites us all who are overburdened to come to him, for his yoke is easy, his burden light. In this way, his Spirit living within us gives us hope, that even amid the trials of our times, still, he is with us, sharing in our suffering, and carrying us in ways that we may not yet even recognize. Indeed, in the Gospel, Jesus is inviting us to his life of freedom and relationship. He does so by using the metaphor of a yoke that is easy and a burden that is light.

Let us pray that we, as the body of Christ in the world today, will have the courage and strength to carry compassionately all those who feel weighed down by the effects of the recent pandemic. And with the Psalmist, we shall all sing a hymn of praise to God for his compassion and love.

Joy and Peace.