Todays Gospel: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Work is a word used so frequently in the English language that it has all but been robbed of its potency. Anyone who spent the last few weeks live-streaming coverage of the World Cup while at their desk knows that the concept of work covers a multitude of arrangements in contemporary society. But labor... labor is different. Labor evokes a more grueling physical activity. Sovier prisoners, sentenced to years of hard labor in the Urals, emerging from coal mines covered in black dust. Child laborers with calloused fingers, swiftly stitching soccer balls in a sweatshop in Bangladesh. Or even an expectant mother in a delivery room, sucking in air and grimacing as she goes into labor. Labor almost invariably elicits a visceral response of bodily anguish. And at the end of our labor, be it on a bunk in the barracks of a military outpost or between the sheets of a suburban neonatal unit, we are exhausted. Not just tired. Weary. Fatigued. Depleted. This was the word Jesus chose to describe all those who labor--weary, exhausted, depleted. Come to me, He invites, and I will give you rest. Perhaps our labor is of the physical sort described above. Or perhaps our daily grind is not all that grueling, to be honest. Perhaps our labor is spiritual, psychological, emotional, or relational. Perhaps where we are exhausted is psychologically trying to overcome deep-seated insecurities and fears. Perhaps where we are exhausted is spiritually, trying to live up to the impossible expectations of religious leaders who have presented the faith as a set of unattainable moral statutes. Perhaps we are exhausted relationally, struggling daily to fix or maintain a damaged relationship with a loved one. In what part of your life are you laboring? Toiling daily, with every ounce of your strength, only to find yourself feeling completely used up at the end... This week, perhaps you could take some time to invite Jesus to be part of the solution, to hand some of the burden off of your own shoulders, rather than trying to carry it all yourself. usccb.org/bible/readings/070614.cfm
Posted on: Mon, 07 Jul 2014 00:52:40 +0000
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