I injured my knee and got patello-femoral pain syndrome. I was so scared that I wouldn’t be able to lift heavy weights or go for a run again. 

The pain was debilitating and scary. I had to go through rehab, and my coach adjusted my exercise regimen to help me recover faster.

After eight months of recovering, I increased my barbell lift weight and started doing slow jogs again. During this time, my fitness community was with me every step of the way.

If we want to do something spectacular, we must do it with people better than us. Their knowledge and experience will teach us to become better as well.

In the Gospel, God says that if you trust Him, the yoke He’ll share with you will make the burden easier. In agricultural societies, work animals like horses and oxen have a yoke on their shoulders. A young animal is paired with a more experienced animal to help it do the job. 

Trust that Jesus will be with you—in your job, trials, family, and mission in life. 

JPaul Hernandez (jpaulmh@yahoo.com)

Reflect

In what area do you need to trust Jesus more? 

Jesus, please give me the grace to trust You more. I need Your guidance and power in my life. Amen.

Pope Saint Gregory III, pray for us.

Experiences do not always reflect the underlying truth or reality of everyone involved. Two people can experience the same event in different ways. This is why we must always have an open mind when we are in conflict with others. Let us always seek to listen first, have compassion, and love in all things.

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

Jesus wants to help us in our trials and unburden us from the yoke of the law that can weigh us down. The law can become burdensome when experienced apart from the love of God; it does not serve us if we perceive it as a burden. Jesus wants to transform our perception of the law and help us to always see it in terms of the demands of love for our relationships with God and each other.

Gospel Acclamation 

Behold, our 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 PROVERBS 21 - 23 today.

Are you feeling worn out and burdened? Heed the gentle invitation of Jesus today: “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest . . .” This is all Jesus said because this is all what we probably need.

When Pope Benedict XVI retired from the papacy, he noted physical incapacity to respond to the active demands of the papacy as the main reason. Paradoxically, in his farewell address, he reassured the world that he will continue to be “active” as he will dedicate the rest of his life to a ministry of prayer for the Church and for the world. Pope Benedict was inviting the world to rediscover the paradox of the “productivity of inactivity.”

This productive inactivity comes to full display in the gesture of prayer. In the Scriptures, the Infant Jesus was first recognized in the busy temple by old Simeon and Anna, described as always in the temple, praying and awaiting the revelation of God. We need not fear the inactivity of old age, for it affords us the rediscovery of this powerful ministry—the ministry of prayer.

Remembering his late predecessor, Pope Francis suggested, “Let us look to Benedict XVI, who chose to spend the final span of his life in prayer and listening to God! . . . A great believer of the last century, of the Orthodox tradition, Olivier Clément, said: ‘A civilization which has no place for prayer is a civilization in which old age has lost all meaning. . . . For, above all, we need old people who pray; prayer is the purpose of old age.’ . . . The prayer of the elderly is a beautiful thing.”

Today, slow down for a while, and give rest to your tired body and spirit. Do what you can, and then, in quiet confidence, allow God to be God.

Fr. Joel Jason

Reflection question

When was the last time you gave your spirit some pampering? Spend some time in an adoration chapel, or maybe go on a retreat.

One day within Your courts, O Lord, is better than a thousand elsewhere. Amen.

Today, I pray for: _____________________________________