Thursday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
July 20, 2023
Today’s Readings:
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/072023.cfm
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, God is actively at work in both our scripture passages.
In our reading from Exodus, God instructs Moses in the Divine plan for Israel’s deliverance. It’s as if they’re sitting together at a drawing table laying out the course of history! Moses has some trepidation about how the people will accept this audacious plan. He asks for more detail on the game plan and God gives him a powerful answer:
Moses, hearing the voice of the LORD from the burning bush, said to him,
“When I go to the children of Israel and say to them,
‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’
if they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what am I to tell them?”
God replied, “I am who am.”
Then he added, “This is what you shall tell the children of Israel:
I AM sent me to you.”
Forever after God’s revelation to Moses, Moses is tied heart-to-heart with God in the unfolding plan of Creation. It is an image similar to the one Jesus uses in today’s Gospel.
Jesus asks us to be tied heart-to-heart with him, yoked to him as we seek our salvation. Jesus assures us that in that unity we will find rest and peace. The assumption might be that Jesus carries most of the weight and labor while we, conjoined with him in trust, benefit from his salvific action. The yoke is the sacred discipline of sincere openness to God’s Will wrought by prayer and Gospel living.
Jesus says all this within another “I am” statement – but this time God’s Name is given in descriptors rather than nomenclature: I am meek and humble of heart …
Jesus said:
Matthew 11:28-30
“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”
Poem Prayer: from Prayer Seeds by Joyce Rupp
Unnameable God, I feel you
with me at every moment.
You are my food, my drink,
my sunlight, and the air I breath.
(Psalm 16; Stephen Mitchell)
with each refreshing rain
each slant of sunshine
each beam of moonlight
each whisper of wind
in every spiraling thought
every turning of the heart
every spoken and written word
every action large and small
you stead, you lead
you encourage, you guide
you embrace, you never let go
one with my soul, one with my life
one with me in the first breath
one with me in the last
you know me now
you will know me
always and forever
I remember
I rejoice
Music: Holy is God’s Name – John Michael Talbot
Lavish Mercy 