The Light of Love
by Fr. David M. Knight
July 18, 2024
Thursday of the Fifteenth Week of Ordinary Time
[USA: Saint Camillus de Lellis, Priest]
Lectionary 392
Is 26:7-9, 12, 16-19/Mt 11:28-30
Isaiah 26:7-19, with Psalm 102, is the prayer of the minister. It first speaks of awareness of God and of our need to be united with him in all we do and think: We look to you for your way and your judgments. Our “way” is the divine way of “our Father in heaven,” because, as his children, we must live on the level of God.
Your name and your title are the desire of our souls: We want to know who God is—his “Name.” And what he is: the mystery of his “title” as Lord and God. This is our committed desire as disciples: Hallowed be thy Name!” My soul yearns for you in the night.
We look to the day when the whole world will see the effects of his rule, value and accept it: When your judgment dawns upon the earth, the world’s inhabitants learn justice. They will see that justice brings peace: You mete out peace to us. We dedicate ourselves to this: “Thy Kingdom come!”
We know we can do nothing to bring this about except in union with God: It is you who have accomplished all we have done. Our only success is in surrender to the mystery of God’s will and way, even when it is the way of the cross: “Thy will be done.” (See Romans 15:18; 1Corinthians 2:9-10.
Salvation we have not achieved for the earth... but we know the victory is won. Jesus our Savior has come, and we “wait in joyful hope” for him to come again. We look forward to “the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” Meanwhile we abandon all we have and are, as faithful stewards of his kingship, to the work of bringing the whole world together “in Christ,” in the peace and unity of the “wedding banquet of the Lamb.” We live and long only for this, knowing God will bring it about. Your dead shall live... your dew is a dew of light, and the land of shades gives birth. (See Titus 2:13; Revelation 19:5-9; Ephesians 3:8-21.)
All our desires are compressed into one when we pray: Give us this day the Bread of tomorrow and forgive us as we are all forgiving one another.
Matthew 11:28-30: The ministry of Jesus is an invitation of love to accept and live in love. “Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”
The “scribes and Pharisees tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others.” But Jesus says:
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
To minister with the heart of Christ is to lift and lighten burdens. To love is to find a way.
Initiative: Make burdens light. See, say and do everything in the light of love.
Reflections brought to you by the Immersed in Christ Ministry
コメント