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South Asian Film Festival in Goa from Fri (June 27) to Mon (June 30)
At Kala Academy, and ESG, Panaji, Goa
http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2008-June/076384.html
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29-Jun-2008
Dear Friend,
Each and everyone of us look forward to the weekly break and to a longer rest
after a long stint of study or work. Holidays and breaks are something we
anticipate especially when we are physically and mentally fatigued. However, we
sometimes have the experience that we come back more tired rather than rested
after a packed holiday! When we take a break do we also take a break from
religion? Is God very much part of our holidays? Can we find rest and
relaxation in the Lord? Have a restful relaxing weekend with Jesus! -Fr. Jude
Sunday Reflections: Fourteenth Sunday ‘Come to Me and I will give
you rest!’ 6‑July‑2008
Readings: Zachariah 9: 9-10; Romans 8: 9-13;
Matthew 11: 25-30;
This first reading from Zachariah foretells the coming of the messianic king
who will put an end to war and establish peace. He is not portrayed as a mighty
warrior but as a humble and gentle champion of peace for all peoples. If there
is one thing we all desire it is peace; and Israel too desired peace but peace
was acquired mostly through war and destruction of the enemy. God’s kingdom is
a kingdom of peace not one that is built on suppression and bloodshed, but on
inner peace that is a gift of God. Even in our times of unrest and uncertainty
God desires to come into our lives to bring us tranquillity and peace. This
prophecy of Zechariah was fulfilled in Jesus who came not to conquer us but to
be for us and with us as the harbinger of peace.
Overpowering or Empowering Presence
Most great personalities have a dominating and overpowering influence on people
they come in contact with. Some prefer to keep their distance from the common
folk who admire them. In his biography of George Washington, Richard Brookhiser
says: “George Washington is with us every day, on our dollar bills and on our
quarters. He looks down on us from Mount Rushmore. In the national capital that
bears his name he has the most prominent memorial. More schools, streets and
cities bear his name than that of any other American, and historians rank him
among the greatest Presidents America has had. However, the omnipresence of
Washington does not translate into familiarity. He is in out textbooks and in
our wallets, but not in our hearts. The fault is partly Washington’s, since he
tended to distance himself from the people.”– But Jesus let the people,
especially the simple ones come to him!
Flor McCarthy in ‘New Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies’
In the second reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, Paul contrasts the
life ‘in the spirit’ with life ‘in the flesh.’ He reminds his listeners that if
we are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ then his spirit should influence our
lives. If on the other had we let ourselves be controlled by evil and sin then
the spirit of Jesus has no place in us. To live the Christian life is to live
by His spirit.
The Real Difference
A man spoke with the Lord about heaven and hell. The Lord said to the man,
“Come I will show you hell.” They entered a room where a group of people sat
around a large pot of stew. Everyone was famished, desperate and starving. Each
held a spoon that reached the pot, but each spoon had a handle so much longer
than their own arm that it could not be used to get the stew into their own
mouths. The suffering was terrible. “Come I will now show you heaven,” the Lord
said after a while. They entered another room, identical to the first –the pot
of stew, the group of people, the same long-handled spoons. But here everyone
was happy and well-nourished. “I don’t understand,” said the man. “Why are they
happy here when they were miserable in the other room and everything was the
same?” The Lord smiled. “Ah, it is simple,” he said. “Here they have learned to
feed each other.”
Ann Landers in ‘A 2nd Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul’
During the years that Jesus spent at Nazareth, he lived among the ordinary
people. For many of those years he lived the life of a working man. He knew
very well the struggles, difficulties, and frustrations ordinary people had to
endure day in and day out. He was aware of the heavy burdens life placed on
their shoulders. Consequently he felt for the ordinary people having lived like
them, and he wanted to lighten their burden. He was open to them and listened
to them as they unburdened their problems and difficulties to him. People came
to him from everywhere to unburden their miseries as he opened himself to them.
All of them had their heavy burdens lightened as a result of meeting and
speaking to him. His very presence and healing touch could bring peace to a
disturbed person. He seemed to encourage people to come to him: “Come to me all
you who labour and are over burdened and I will give you rest.” Regarding his
own burden he said, “My yoke is
easy and my burden light.” How could he who took the burdens of so many say
that? Because he carried the burdens of others with love. Only love can make a
heavy burden light. A loving mother never finds her children burdensome. A
mother who gives up her food so that her children may have something to eat
hardly notices her own hunger. When Jesus addressed the people he chose to
speak not to the wise and the clever but to the simple of heart. If we wish to
understand Jesus and draw close to him we have to do so in simplicity and
humility. He said, “I thank you Father for hiding these things from the learned
and the clever and revealing them to mere children.” Those who believe they are
learned and intelligent often cause their own problems and shoulder unnecessary
burdens.
Unnecessary Baggage
There is a Zen story about an old man going on a spiritual journey with a heavy
bag on his back. On his deathbed he passes on the bag to his disciple. When the
disciple opens the bag he finds that it is empty; Yet he wonders why it weighed
so much. And the old man says, “It is the weight of everything in my life that
I did not need to carry. I have been burdened with unnecessary luggage all my
life!”
Anoymous
Rest and Freedom
I was speaking with someone this week who told me the story of his son. His
son was brought up in a godly home - a home where he was taught to work hard
and save money - to avoid debt if at all possible - and to pay whatever debt he
had as quickly as possible. It seems that these latter virtues really stuck
with him - and when he got married he worked very hard and laboured intensely
to purchase a very nice home. Recently, at a relatively young age, he finished
paying off the mortgage on this home - and found himself strangely depressed.
He had accomplished what few people accomplish at his age, he was free from the
worry that so many people have, yet he found himself feeling empty and adrift.
He told his father that he thought that he would feel wonderful on the day that
he burned his mortgage - but he didn't. He then added these words: "Dad, you
know, when I was young and gave my heart to Jesus - you know something - there
is no feeling like
the feeling I had then - the feeling of being washed totally clean - the
feeling of having Christ come into my life. I've never felt as good as I felt
on that day." -Come unto me - all you who are tired - all you who are feeling
drained -all you who are feeling empty - all you who are burdened by a sense of
disappointment and let down - all you who are exhausted by the struggles of
life and weighed down by your sense of duty and of what is right and wrong -
and I will give you rest. I will cleanse you - I will fill you with new joy -
and establish you in a relationship with God that will give you new life - here
and in the world to come.
Richard Fairchild in ‘Sermon & Liturgy
In the second section of today’s gospel Jesus is inviting all his followers
especially those who are over burdened to a direct relationship with him, to
keep learning his ways. The ‘yoke’ which is the heaviness of the Law,
especially the legalistic and harsh interpretations of the Pharisees is being
replaced by the gentleness and the personal relationship offered by Jesus.
“Shoulder my yoke and learn from me….you will find rest for your souls. My yoke
is easy and my burden light. ” Jesus is calling his disciples and us to be part
of a community to labour together because love labours together. The rest that
Jesus is referring to is interior rest. Those who labour without interior peace
and rest are most likely building their own kingdoms, which do not allow rest
and renewal from within. Only yoked to Jesus will we find true relaxation and
contentment.
The Easy Yoke
“This image provides Jesus with a natural segue to the topic of yoke, a word
used metaphorically to describe those things that control the lives of people.
Peasants always had a yoke. For the most part, their lives as tenant farmers
were governed by the wills and whims of the landowners. Their lives as rustic
folk whose subsistence means allowed them to live only from day to day were
controlled by religious leaders who grew fat on tithes that they hoarded in the
Temple instead of redistributing to the needy. In the village setting,
Pharisees laid the yoke of their 613 commandments upon their followers and
others who sought their advice about how to please God. Jesus teaches and
demonstrates a way of life, a yoke, that differs markedly from the one other
Judean leaders taught. He promises a yoke that is easy and a burden that is
light (v. 30). The peasants found this enormously appealing. Modern believers
must realize that the Pharisees are not
portrayed fairly in our Gospels. Still, no one would deny that their
arrogance, pride, and playacting often cast a shadow on the wise instruction
they offered. Modern reformers and spiritual leaders could well take a lesson
from Jesus’ principal challengers. Spiritual elitism repels many more than it
attracts. The best guides are those who practice what they preach.” –John J.
Pilich –Georgetown University
Restful Holidays!
Once upon a time a mommy and a daddy were preparing to take their two children
for two weeks vacation in the country. They had, as do most mommies and daddies
these days, a sports utility vehicle (SUV). They figured that they would travel
light. For two weeks you don’t have to bring the whole house, do you? Since the
SUV was big, it was easy to pile things into it. First of all, they packed
clothes. Because you can never tell what you might have to do or where you
might have to go at the Lake or what the weather will be like, they didn’t
really pack any more things then they would need for, let us say, a trip to
Paris. Moreover they wanted their kids to look their best. So they packed
comprehensive wardrobes for them too. You can never tell what might happen on a
vacation, can you? Then there was the matter of toys and similar stuff. The
weather might be bad so they had to pack enough toys to keep the kids happy if
they were imprisoned in a cottage
for two weeks. But the weather might be good, so they had to pack enough toys
that the kids wouldn’t be bored on the beach. Then each of the kids had their
favorite toys without which they could not survive. Did I forget the family
dog? Eventually the SUV was fully loaded and there was room for everyone except
the mommy and the daddy. So they rearranged things. There hardly was room to
breathe in the SUV. When they got to the lake, they had to unpack all their
stuff. When their vacation was over (as alas vacations tend to be) they
repacked everything to drive home. Then when they arrived home they had to
unpack everything. No one was talking to one another for three days!
Fr. Andrew Greeley
May we find true rest and renewal in the Lord!
Fr. Jude Botelho
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
PS. The stories, incidents and anecdotes used in the reflections have been
collected over the years from books as well as from sources over the net and
from e-mails received. Every effort is made to acknowledge authors whenever
possible. If you send in stories or illustrations I would be grateful if you
could quote the source as well so that they can be acknowledged if used in
these reflections. These reflections are also available on my web site
www.netforlife.net Thank you.
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