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Monday 30 June 2014

An Open Letter to Jesus


14th Sunday in Ordinary Time
July 6


First reading Zechariah 9:9-10

The Lord says this:
Rejoice heart and soul, daughter of Zion!
Shout with gladness, daughter of Jerusalem!
See now, your king comes to you;
he is victorious, he is triumphant,
humble and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
He will banish chariots from Ephraim
and horses from Jerusalem;
the bow of war will be banished.
He will proclaim peace for the nations.
His empire shall stretch from sea to sea,
from the River to the ends of the earth.

Psalm                                                                          Psalm 144:1-2,8-11,13-14

Second reading                                                      Romans 8:9,11-13

Your interests are not in the unspiritual, but in the spiritual, since the Spirit of God has made his
home in you.In fact, unless you possessed the Spirit of Christ you would not belong to him, and
if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, then he who raised Jesus
from the dead will give life to your own mortal bodies through his Spirit living in you.

So then, my brothers, there is no necessity for us to obey our unspiritual selves or to live
unspiritual lives. If you do live in that way, you are doomed to die; but if by the Spirit you put an
end to the misdeeds of the body you will live.

Gospel                                                                     Matthew 11:25-30

Jesus exclaimed, ‘I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children. Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do. Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, just as no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
  ‘Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.’

Reflection
by Fidji Rivera-Sarmiento

Dear Mr. Jesus,

Come to You. You’ll give me rest. You said.
Learn from You. Then You’ll give me rest. You said.
Your yoke is easy. 
Your burden is light.
YOU SAID.

But I beg to disagree, my God.
It’s as if the more I seek You, the more I come face to face with problems I never imagined.
The more I know Your Word, the more I become angrier, frustrated, disappointed with the world.
I seek Your Kingdom, then in one second You’re already testing Me. 
When I decided to follow You, my crosses became heavier.
WHY?

I think, I might have misunderstood Your offer!
I feel scammed.
BUT…
Ever since I committed my life to You, I have come to know suffering with a different set of eyes. 
I have realized how beautiful it is to love like You do. To be utterly dependent on Your grace and mercy. 
To be obedient to the Father’s Will even if I’m terrified. 
I’ve now known how to surrender and to stop exhausting my human strength and to turn to You. 
I’ve seen miracles. I’ve been awed with Your Work that no science can explain.

My heart has become lighter. My burdens are now a prayer away. 
My daily challenging labor as a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, a friend, a teacher, has actually, finally, brought me inexplicable joy.
And I have learned to offer my everything to You, because finally, I feel liberated to say that I cannot do every single thing.

You. Yes You Jesus. Only You can make things weightless. 
So light I can fly.


Your Work in Progress,

Fidji   

Prayer

Father, Fill me with Your Spirit. Give me wisdom, give me discernment. Help me to trust Your Will more than my human strength. Soften my heart that this world has calloused. Cure me of my blindness. And in times that I do not understand You, or when I rebel, and complain too much, give me comfort through Your Words. Inspire me, my Blessed Mother. Let me surrender everything to the Lord, the way you did. In Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

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