“It takes a year to recover from burnout,” my friend said, referring to the article she read about overworking. Both of us have a tendency to max ourselves out to the point of exhaustion, which sometimes transforms into existential questions. It isn’t easy to give time for rest when you’re running a small service-oriented business, especially if it’s your bread and butter and you’re the one who pays all the bills. “When the harvest season comes, we’ll have more than enough of rest,” we tell ourselves.

But “to rest is to trust [in God],” another friend said. It is trusting that God will take care of everything, that He will provide, and that He will work even when we’re not working. When I started intentionally putting rest in my schedule, I noticed that I perform better. I realized that I have to invest in the worker—myself. I have to take care of myself so I can take care of people and things better.

Above all, I should nurture my prayer life. God is never weary. He is our rest and strength. Let’s come to Him today. Elaine Marie Factor (elainemariefactor@gmail.com)

Reflect:

How many hours do you rest each day? Do you spend enough time with yourself, loved ones, and God?

I come to You, Lord, for I am weary and heavily laden. You are my love. You are my rest. Amen.

Saint Damasus I, pope, pray for us.

God does not abandon His people. If there is a great distance between Him and His people, then it is us who moved away from Him. Let us pray for the grace to obey God’s will for us.

²⁵ To whom can you liken me as an equal? Says the Holy One. ²⁶ Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these. He leads out their army and numbers them, calling them all by name. By his great might and the strength of his power not one of them is missing! ²⁷ Why, O Jacob, do you say, and declare, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God”? ²⁸ Do you not know or have you not heard? The Lord is the eternal God, creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint nor grow weary, and his knowledge is beyond scrutiny. ²⁹ He gives strength to the fainting; for the weak he makes vigor abound. ³⁰ Though young men faint and grow weary, and youths stagger and fall, ³¹ they that hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar as with eagles’ wings; they will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint.

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 103:1-2, 3-4, 8, 10

R: O bless the Lord, my soul!

¹ Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all my being, bless his holy name. ² Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. (R) ³ He pardons all your iniquities, he heals all your ills. ⁴ He redeems your life from destruction, he crowns you with kindness and compassion. (R) ⁸ Merciful and gracious is the Lord, slow to anger and abounding in kindness. ¹⁰ Not according to our sins does he deal with us, nor does he requite us according to our crimes. (R)

Gospel | Matthew 11:28-30

The yoke of the Lord is easy and light; it is the yoke of truth and perfection. The alternative is the yoke of sin that results from giving in to the ways of the world and the flesh. Let us pray for the grace to choose the way of the Lord over and above any other options offered to us. 

Gospel Acclamation

Behold, the Lord comes to save his people; blessed are those prepared to meet him.

²⁸ Jesus said to the crowds: “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 your selves. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

Read the Bible in one year! Read 1 TIMOTHY 4 - 6 today.

One time, a little boy approached his teacher wanting to talk to her about something that had been troubling him. When the teacher asked him what it was, the little boy said with such heavy heart, “Ma’am, it is not easy to be humble. It is very difficult to be good.” Very true indeed. We often associate humility with losers or pushovers. Nobody wants that. Everyone wants to be a winner, to be on top, to be first and not last. 

However, the effort to be humble is not without its rewards. In today’s Gospel, Jesus promises respite from the cares and torments of life by saying, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Jesus further invites us: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart” (Matthew 11:29). Jesus shows us, through His life and His relationships with God and others, how it is to live out humility and obedience. With Him by our side, there is no burden too great. With Him by our side, we can carry and deal with anything. 

Jesus invites us to follow His example, “Son though He was, He learned obedience from what He suffered” (Hebrews 5:8). When we learn to imitate Jesus’ meekness and gentleness, life becomes less complicated not only for ourselves but also for everyone else. This is what it means to be yoked to Jesus. When we renounce our tendency for pride and self-entitlement, we contribute to the communal effort to rise above any crisis. This, we remarkably have realized at the height of the pandemic. 

We are reminded, however, that there is no other virtue that will identify us best as Christians than the virtue of humility. We will be most effective at winning others, at making Jesus known to others, if we treat one another in humility—in gentleness. Fr. Rick Montañez, AA

reflection question

How humble and gentle are you in your dealings with others? 

May I learn from Your way of greatness and gentleness, Lord Jesus! Amen.

Today, I pray for: ____________________________________