Living the Word l Sister Rachel Bergschneider, OSB

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time l July 9

Zechariah 9:9-10; Psalm 145:1-2,8-9,10-11,13-14; Romans 8:9,11-13; Matthew 11:25-30

When I hear the words of today’s Gospel “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves,” (Matthew 11:29), two people come to mind.

The first is a woman, with few earthly possessions. She was blind and lived alone in an old house without any help with meals, etc. except for a son who periodically brought her some food. When I visited her to bring Communion, she always had some morsel of food to offer me.

This particular day, she, knowing our church was in the middle of a building drive, instructed me as I left her home to go to the cupboard. There she had two $1 bills that she had saved to contribute to the building drive. I struggled within myself to take these meager savings, but her generous heart compelled me to receive her gift on behalf of the parish.

The second is a person who has all the avenues of acclaim he might desire, but who chooses to direct his life toward the forgotten. Pope Francis makes continual choices to serve the people who have no resources or dignity.

One powerful scene is Pope Francis, who on Holy Thursday visited a prison and washed and kissed the feet of the imprisoned. This incident tells a story difficult to miss. Pope Francis repeats this sort of story by his actions toward the poor and forgotten over and over again, making the words of Jesus in today’s Gospel difficult to dismiss.

WHAT IS TRUE STRENGTH?

“No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him” (Matthew 11:27). Jesus, continually in his life and mission on earth, reveals by his actions that to know the Father is to pour out one’s life for others that we may learn true wisdom and the ways of the Father.

Meekness and humility, the values and virtues of which Jesus speaks in this reading, are “things hidden from the wise and the learned (that) are revealed to the little ones” (Matthew 11:25). Evident in the two examples is a quality of selflessness that determines their way of life. The focus is not for their own well-being, but on a desire to serve the needs of others, a message coming from a heart filled with mercy and compassion that demonstrates a way of life imbued with the wisdom of God, a wisdom evident from an intimate relationship with God.

Such a person has taken on “the yoke” of God and learned from God the humility that trust in God brings. Such a life is not ruled by the flesh. “On the contrary, you are in the spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you.” (Romans 8:9)

The strength of the meek and humble is the freedom they experience, knowing they are not bound by power and self-importance because of their knowledge and skills, not “debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh” (Romans 8:12). They know they belong to the Spirit which gives life, truly free to live authentic lives. In so doing, they give the world a chance to witness the compassion and selflessness that is learned taking on the yoke of Jesus.

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SISTER RACHEL BERGSCHNEIDER, OSB, is a member of the Sisters of St. Benedict of St. Mary Monastery, Rock Island. She ministers at the Peoria County Jail, serving as a facilitator in the Jobs Partnership program.