Weary and Burdened

Gospel: Matthew 11: 25-30

Come, all who labor and who are burdened.  This is an invitation to the vast majority of the world population.  Those who do not labor and who are not burdened are the wealthy who create the labor and burdens of so many.  Jesus and his family were themselves laborers.  They were aware of the work and the burdens heaped upon the mass of humanity by occupiers and oppressors of every kind.  He saw the desperation it often created.  He wanted to ease this burden.

The mission of Jesus and, by extension, his disciples is to ease the burden and oppression of the working masses.  How often is it the case that the Church fulfills this mission?  Have we instead ourselves been those who create weariness and burdens for others?  Could this be the reason we see a decline in religion over the past century or so?  These questions give us pause and a great deal of material for an examen on our ministry and relationship to the great mass of humanity.  

At the same time, we can reflect on the many ways we can provide such rest and ease from the burdens of life.  Beginning with sacramental ministry and how we might expand such opportunities and access, to the ministries of hospitality and social assistance there is much we can and must do for humanity that faces much distress and exploitation.  It is the task of every Christian, the task of every parish, to continue this ministry of Jesus in the world today. 

Religion of Ego

Gospel:  Matthew 9: 14-17

How often do we make ourselves the measure and standard of religious practice?  How often do we measure other people by what they do or do not do in comparison with our own practices?  This is what takes place in today's Gospel portion.  Disciples of John the Baptist and the Pharisees say to Jesus:  We fast all the time - why don't your disciples do as we do?  Of course some Scripture or tradition will be invoked to justify ourselves, but the reality is that we make ourselves the standard for all others to follow.

Jesus gives two metaphors to describe what is happening here.  The first is placing a patch on a garment with a hole in it to pass it off as usable and even good as new.  The second is the attempt to pour new wine into an old wineskin - another attempt to pass off as new and good what is not.  The disciples of the Baptist and the Pharisees need a whole new being, not patches and old wineskins.  The appeal to Scripture, tradition, or particular practices have no meaning if they do not make us new beings divinized and illumined.  

When we make ourselves the measure of all things, it is certain we have not been illumined and divinized by God.  We are not a new being, but one passing ourselves off as such.  We can don religious finery, revel in ornate ritual, invoke Scripture and tradition to justify ourselves and claim we are better than those other people.  But if we not have love, if we not have the mercy of God as our animating principle, we have not been made anew, we have not been illumined or divinized.  We are merely another religion of the ego.

Lasting Legacy

Gospel: John 20: 24-29

Imagine being known for just one thing and it is negative.  This is the legacy of the apostle Thomas.  He is known solely for doubting Jesus' resurrection.  Yet, his fellow apostles had not believed the women and the disciples of Emmaus on the same point.  But because Thomas did not believe his fellow apostles he is the one called the doubter.  Despite the fact that Thomas established Christianity in India and has other mentions in the Gospels, we speak only of this passage about him doubting.  

By contrast, Peter has many mentions in the Gospels, most of them negative.  His lack of faith leads to him sinking in the sea.  Jesus calls him a Satan for not accepting Jesus' impending arrest and execution.  Peter denies Jesus three times. And yet the tradition has as the defining moment a singular passage of Jesus conferring the keys to him.  The determination of particular legacies seems rather arbitrary and unfair at times.

Despite this unfairness that exists in the world and in religion, our task remains the same.  We are to go about extending mercy to others as Jesus had done.  We are to be people of the Beatitudes who are merciful, meek, pure of heart, thirsting for justice, peacemaking, and patient in suffering.  Thomas reminds us that while we might be remembered by most solely for one event in our lives, we are much more than that event, and that others remember us as one who brought the love of Jesus to them.