The Refreshment Jesus Gives, Fourteenth Sunday (A), July 9, 2023

Fr. Roger J. Landry<br /> Chapel of the Vincentian Missionary Seminary, Krakow, Poland<br /> Tertio Millennio Seminar<br /> Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A<br /> July 9, 2023<br /> Zech 9:9-10, Ps 145, Rom 8:9.11-13, Mt 11:25-30   To listen to an audio recording of today’s homily, please click below: https://traffic.libsyn.com/sec....ure/catholicpreachin   The following points were attempted in the homily:  Today at Mass Jesus will give us one of the most incredible invitations we’ve ever received and, if we say yes to it, one of the most unbelievable guarantees. The invitation comes straight from Jesus, the God-man, our Savior: “Come to me,” he says, “all you who labor and find life burdensome.” That’s the invitation. “Come to me all you who are working hard but can’t see to fully get your head above water to feel secure; come to me all you who are burdened with anxieties of studies, work, family life, relationships, age or health; come to me all you who are weighed down by sorrows, who are going through life with heavy hearts because you’ve lost a loved one or are worried about the health of someone close to you; come to me all you who are pressed down even by your sins and the harm sins always bring to our lives and to the lives of those around us; all of you, come!” After this invitation, Jesus gives us the extraordinary promise: “And I will refresh you.” Think about what Jesus is saying: “All of you who have problems with human life — every single one of you — come to me, and I will refresh you, bring you back to life, make you see the blessing in what you see as a burden.” That’s what he said to his listeners two thousand years ago — who must have been shocked by so categorical a promise — and that’s what he says to each one of us today. Any there any takers? Does any of us need Jesus’ help to bear heavy burdens? To understand better Jesus’ amazing offer, we first have to look at whom Jesus is summoning and whom he isn’t. Jesus addresses his invitation to those who are “labor” and are carrying heavy burdens. He is not calling to himself in this way those who are lazy, who pass the buck, who don’t roll up their sleeves and work up a sweat. He’s not inviting those who are seeking a comfortable, easy life. When Jesus says “follow me!,” he’s not intending to lead us to South Beach or Punta Cana; he’s going to lead us along the same path he trod, which was a hard-working path all the way Calvary. Jesus is speaking, rather, to those who are working hard, who are striving to take responsibility for their own life, for the life of their loved ones, for their neighbors, our society, our country and the Church, who are pushing themselves in love to the limit. Jesus had told us (as we pondered a few weeks ago) to pray to the Harvest Master, his Father, “to send laborers into his vineyard” (Mt 9:38 ), not bodies. The way to salvation and the salvation of others in that vineyard is through responding to all his gifts with faith, love, fatigue and perspiration. It’s those who labor whom he promises to refresh. The second group of people whom Jesus is not calling is the proud, the arrogant, those who already think they know everything they need or know it