14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Fr DoMinic’s Homily

Today we hear that he thanks his Father for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children. But what are these things that he is talking about? It's the mystery of his identity. Of who he really is.

People have many opinions of who he is and they all have one thing in common. They are wrong. He is not just another prophet. He is but he is much more than that. He is the divine son of the Father.

And only God the Father really knows this and what it really means. Just as only Jesus knows who his Father really is and what that means.

You might say that we know who God the Father is through the prophets and Old Testament scripture. And this is true but it is not enough to really understand who God the Father and God the son really are.

This can only be revealed to us through heavenly realities in a spiritual way. Intellect is not enough because God transcends our ability to simply know things.

Jesus of course is divine wisdom in his very essence. It is through him that we can find true rest for our souls.

Jesus speaks about a yoke. This is a wooden harness that oxen wear in order to pull a plough to work in a field. Or a wooden beam that you carried across your shoulders to carry a bucket for water on each end.

Jesus seems to speak in riddles again. It's a parable. He says shoulder my yoke as it is easy and light to carry. Now what on earth does that mean? Jesus doesn't carry a wooden harness! It's another paradox of his spiritual teachings.

Well, he often speaks about carrying our crosses if we want to be a disciple of his. He intimates that if you really want to love then you need to take the path of suffering on my account.

This is true of course - love and suffering are two sides of the same coin in this world.

Jesus describes himself as gentle and humble. These are the two containers that he is carrying on his yoke.

Remember in the beatitudes that it is again paradoxically that through these, perhaps, unworldly qualities that we can inherit the kingdom of heaven.

How is it that his yoke or his way of life can be so light and burden free? It's because he is going to help us carry our burdens. That's what makes them so light. Through his humility and gentleness.

It's difficult for us to carry our burdens alone but with Jesus all things are possible.

Sin is the heaviest burden for us to carry and it can easily drag us down and turn us into slaves. The more we sin the heavier they become. But Jesus tells us to bring our burdens to him so that we can set them down in front of his cross.

We may still suffer —b ut this suffering is manageable because he is helping us to carry it. He gives us a yoke of grace that leads us to the resurrection. We do not need to bear the weight of grace because grace actually bears us.

And what is the rest that he wants to give our souls? It is to achieve our fullness in life.

Yokes that were made for cattle and also those made for people were tailor made out of wood. Jesus and Joseph probably made many of these themselves as they were carpenters by trade.

Each of us are different. We all have different works to perform in this world. What God ultimately wants from each one of us is to be our true authentic selves. Not to try and be someone else.

We have been brought into this world for a purpose. Our yokes are tailor made.

Let us try to be the best possible versions of ourselves that we possibly can which we can achieve by asking the Lord to help us and by following his ways as closely as possible.