Daily Reading
First Reading
Isaiah 26:7-9, 12, 16-19
The way of the righteous is level;
O Just One, you make smooth the path of the righteous.
In the path of your judgments,
O Lord, we wait for you;
your name and your renown
are the soul’s desire.
My soul yearns for you in the night,
my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.
For when your judgments are in the earth,
the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
O Lord, you will ordain peace for us,
for indeed, all that we have done, you have done for us.
O Lord, in distress they sought you,
they poured out a prayer
when your chastening was on them.
Like a woman with child,
who writhes and cries out in her pangs
when she is near her time,
so were we because of you, O Lord;
we were with child, we writhed,
but we gave birth only to wind.
We have won no victories on earth,
and no one is born to inhabit the world.
Your dead shall live, their corpses shall rise.
O dwellers in the dust, awake and sing for joy!
For your dew is a radiant dew,
and the earth will give birth to those long dead.
Psalm
Psalm 102:13-14ab and 15, 16-18, 19-21
You will rise up and have compassion on Zion,
for it is time to favor it;
the appointed time has come.
For your servants hold its stones dear,
and have pity on its dust.
The nations will fear the name of the Lord,
and all the kings of the earth your glory.
For the Lord will build up Zion;
he will appear in his glory.
He will regard the prayer of the destitute,
and will not despise their prayer.
Let this be recorded for a generation to come,
so that a people yet unborn may praise the Lord:
that he looked down from his holy height,
from heaven the Lord looked at the earth,
to hear the groans of the prisoners,
to set free those who were doomed to die;
so that the name of the Lord may be declared in Zion,
and his praise in Jerusalem.
Gospel Reading
Matthew 11:28-30
“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 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.”
Reflection
Friends, in today’s Gospel, the Lord offers to relieve us of our burdens. He is identifying everyone who feels oppressed by the world: by sin, worries, suffering, injustice, the death of a relative or friend, the fear of death—whatever it may be.
Relief comes when we submit to his kingship, his new way of ordering things. We are meant to imagine ourselves as pack animals who have been tied under a yoke and are under the command of a farmer. It seems rather demeaning, but this is what submission to Christ’s lordship looks like: We serve his purposes and go where he wants us to go.
Is Christ commanding your life in every detail? Is he the Lord of your family life? Of your recreational life? Of your professional life? Is he Lord of every room in your house, including the bedroom? Are you totally given over to him, under his lordship?
I know that this may sound oppressive, but remember, “My yoke is easy, and my burden light.” When we surrender to the path of love that he has laid out for us, our lives become infinitely lighter, easier, and more joyful, for we are moving with the divine purpose.