Zec. 9:9-10; Ps 1451-2, 8-11, 13-14; Rom. 8:9, 11-13; Mt. 11:25-30
Rejoice heartily! This implies with your whole heart, mind and will. What can possibly lead us to rejoice heartily? Major events in our life lead us to rejoice heartily, our first car or home, a wedding day, the birth of a child. Sometimes we rejoice more heartily over a sports championship like the World Cup or the Superbowl than we do over our faith and salvation. We also are celebrating this weekend our 250th anniversary as a nation and we are to rejoice heartily at being one nation under God. Today we are reminded to rejoice heartily over something greater than these and it is our God, the Father of creation, the Son of redemption, and the Spirit of life.
Rejoice and give praise to our God who is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness”. He desires our good and is ready to lead us on the path to salvation like a good shepherd. What we can do as an act of thanksgiving is to let all our works be an offering to serve a greater good, the will of the Father.
Rejoice because by our baptism we are in the spirit. It is the Spirit from God himself that is transformative by his love. It is love itself, a faithful, enduring, merciful love that heals all wounds and renews the soul to its perfect state of holiness. We rejoice because the Spirit gives life to our mortal bodies that otherwise suffer death through sin.
The Lord says, “Come to me…and I will give you rest” by living life in the Spirit. The Lord invites us to bring him our burdens and learn from him. The Lord says, “come to me” and he will teach us how to live and never die when “the Spirit of God dwells in you.” The Spirit of God comes to us from the moment of baptism to be at our side, to lift our burdens and dominate our flesh if we but “follow him”. We can learn from our Blessed Mother Mary who remained faithful only asking how was she to conceive a child and was told through the Holy Spirit. She was faith filled and ascended to heaven. She rejoiced heartily trusting in God never wavering even as her Son was being crucified.
Then we ask, “why do we suffer, why is life burdensome, why do we give into the temptation of the flesh and do what we know not to do and avoid what we need to do?” Our trials and tribulations serve to turn us away from the “flesh” and to surrender ourselves to God. Sadly, it also causes some to deny him and surrender to death with no fear of God. Many are lost not having discovered like “little ones” the mystery of life. We are his little ones when we trust in God with our whole heart, mind, and will. It is then that we are free to rejoice heartily knowing we belong to God and his eternal promises.
When Jesus appears to his disciples in the upper room his greeting to them is “peace be with you”. I imagine they were startled, not sure if they were seeing a ghost or a reality and fearful of how to respond. His greeting however was more than just an effort to calm them down. It was a gift of peace they were going to need in order to carry forth the mission to come. The future was not a kingdom of luxury, royalty, or peace as the world defines it. It was a future of hardship, persecution, hunger, and martyrdom for many. Few would survive it but none could endure it without having the peace of Christ to trust in the Lord what was to be the “big picture” of salvation.
The disciples were willing to be instruments of God’s love and focus on doing what Jesus taught them and sent them out to do. They were obedient to the Lord even unto death unwilling to deny him to the powers of this world. They received the gift of peace that comes with life in the Spirit.
How is our relationship with our God, King of kings, and Lord of lords this day? When was the last time we invited God to come to us and be “my Lord and my God”? It is to be a daily invitation to God that he remains in us and reveal himself to us as we go about doing and living our God given purpose. Life in the Spirit is an active life of love of God and love of neighbor. It is a life filled with decisions to make. The decision to come to Mass or not, to be patient or get upset, to seek righteousness or allow injustice, to be a peacemaker or a rebel rouser. Life is filled with choices but we are remined that the choice we make, makes us who we are.
Jesus was often referred to as “teacher”. He prepared his disciples with many lessons for three years knowing the day was coming when he would leave them and they would have to look back and remember the lessons learned and follow his teaching. Jesus also promised them and us he would send the Holy Spirit to discern the will of God and unite our will to his that we may be one with him. This is our comforter but we too in the end have to make the choice to accept the teaching, to follow, or to go our way. Life in the Spirit is the way and we rejoice heartily with God at our side.
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