6 July 2008 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Zechariah 9, 9-10; Psalm 145; Romans 8, 9-13; Matthew 11, 2-30
25 At that time Jesus said in reply, “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. 26 Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. 27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father. 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. 28 “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”
It’s been scary to read the newspaper lately. For how many days, it was all bad news. The recent typhoon Frank left the country devastated, killing hundreds of people and hundreds more homeless. World oil price soars to $145 a barrel last Thursday, the highest in history and gone up to more than 50% than its price last year. Last month, our inflation [1] rate hit 11.4%, the highest in 14 years. From one bad news to another (well, at least thanks to Pacquiao, who somehow made us forget the bad news for a little while) you may wonder, how long this will this last. Will it ever go to an end?
In today’s gospel, we hear Jesus’ consoling words …“Come to me all, who are burdened and I will give you rest”. Jesus knows how burdened people we are, because He shared our humanity and even embraced our poverty. During His time, His people were also burdened with poverty, heavy taxes to pay to the Romans and to the Jewish temples and violence is also everywhere. And so we believe that He understands how troubled we are, more than anyone else. Jesus’ clearly invites us today, to come to Him and rest in Him especially during these tough times. He invites us to trust Him even more by offering our difficulties, our sadness, pains and struggle so He can give us comfort and rest. And that I think is the good news, amidst all the bad things happening around us. That God, who is much bigger good news than all the bad news combined, is out there, sympathizing with us and will never leave us no matter what. We just have to keep the faith and pray even more.
And so let us continue to pray for one another, for our country and especially for our poor brothers and sisters who suffers most during this time.
[1] Inflation measures how fast overall prices are rising over a specific period, usually a year. The higher the inflation, the faster the prices are rising, Inquirer Research, PDI, Sat. July 5, 2008
1 comment:
When we actually think critically about the things that are happening in the country, we should also understand that the state of our government is not stable. People are always commenting about high prices but at least they also need to have a second plan for them to have an alternative, I think though that us Filipinos are very well suited to any alternatives that we can carry. Well, they should not always complain because it just creates more problems... We should come up with a good plan that can make not only ourselves adapted but also for the sake of others to at least strive for the good of the Filipinos and the country. Take for example the life of Jesus. He didn't have to tell everyone that he is the son of God, people went to him and witnessed the miracles that he made. I hope that we could also be like that, not to boast but hidden talents will surely be developed and put to good use.
Post a Comment