Texts taken from the Missal “On Your Word” July-August 2023

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
2nd week, Psalter cycle

FIRST READING

From the Book of the Prophet Zechariah (Zec 9:9-10)
Thus says the Lord: «Rejoice greatly, daughter Zion, shout for joy, daughter Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you. He is just and victorious, humble, riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. He will banish the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem; the war bow will be broken, and he will proclaim peace to the nations. His dominion will be from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth». – The Word of the Lord.

Commentary on the first reading

Every king and leader of peoples presents himself to his subjects with displays of power and signs of greatness. In ancient times, this was true of the pharaoh with his magnificent court; or think of the palace of King Louis XVI of France, whose garden at Versailles covered eight thousand hectares! In late Judaism, the figure of the future Messiah, the long-awaited liberator, began to be presented not as a grand person from the standpoint of human visibility, but as a humble king who arrives riding on a donkey. The image immediately recalls Jesus’ messianic entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday: Zechariah’s prophecy is fulfilled to the letter. The universal king must not dominate peoples on the political, social, or human level, but in their hearts and consciences. For this reason, he will be fearsome, but against the devil and evil, while to reign in human hearts he presents himself as divine, humble, and chaste love. To be welcomed, the Lord makes himself small, renouncing all outward displays: his kingship is love.

SECOND READING

From the Letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Romans (Rom 8:9, 11-13)
Brothers and sisters, you are not under the dominion of the flesh, but of the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him. And if the Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life also to your mortal bodies through his Spirit dwelling in you. So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live according to the desires of the flesh, because if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if, through the Spirit, you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. – The Word of the Lord.

Commentary on the second reading

The Apostle Paul is categorical, as the Word of God always is: one cannot live simultaneously under the rule of the flesh and under that of the Spirit. If the Holy Spirit dwells within us, we may feel the temptations and impulses of the flesh (carnal desires), but these will only be an opportunity to place ourselves even more decisively on God’s side and thus make us victorious in resisting and overcoming our passions. Once again, the human heart reveals itself as a battlefield in which God and the devil, light and darkness, holiness and selfishness, fight “in single combat,” while we are pulled from one side to the other. How to win is suggested by the apostle himself: «put to death the deeds of the body». In another passage we find: «Put to death, therefore, whatever in you belongs to the earthly nature» (cf. Col 3:5). To give death, to put to death… these are all rather strong expressions. There is no way around it: our old self truly must die if we want to live in Christ, in the Holy Spirit. A life of penance is essential to Christianity.

GOSPEL OF THE DAY

From the Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 11:25-30)
At that time Jesus said: «I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, for such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him. 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 your lives. For my yoke is easy and my burden light». – The Word of the Lord.

Commentary on the Gospel of the day

Jesus reveals to us how to please the Father: to make ourselves small. True knowledge of God is not learned through the effort of the intellect alone, but through faith and charity, because God is love. The path to knowledge, moreover, can only be the one chosen by the Father from eternity, and that is the Son. We come to know God by welcoming Jesus, nourishing ourselves on the truth that comes from his mouth, and loving him with all our heart. The yoke is the tool once used when plowing with oxen: it was placed around the animals’ necks to make them go together at the same pace, so that one would not go faster than the other; in the same way, Jesus invites us to take the yoke with him and move at the same pace. Imagine being “yoked” with Jesus while you work, while you walk down the street, while you speak with the supermarket clerk… You will not feel the burden, because his yoke is light and, at the same time, you will never feel alone, because the one accompanying you is Love that forgives. «Come to me»: what a heartfelt cry! God loves us, and walking step by step with him is not difficult but enjoyable. My yoke - he tells us - weighs very little, almost nothing. Weigh it, and you will realize.