286. Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (A)

Meditations no. 585 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

The Lord reveals Himself to those who are humble.

Like the Apostles, we have often contemplated Jesus praying alone, in a secluded place, very early in the morning; even, on some occasions, he persevered all night in prayer. In the Gospel passage we read today, we hear his conversation aloud with God the Father, in the presence of the disciples. At that time Jesus declared: “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. Yes, Father, because it has seemed good to you.

Jesus gives thanks with joy because the “little ones” listen to him; the simple people accept his teachings and perceive that he speaks in the name of the one who sent him. They have the attitude of trust proper to young children with their parents. On the other hand, those who believe themselves to be wise and understanding, not a few of the inhabitants of the neighboring cities where Jesus announced that the Kingdom of God is near and where he performed miracles, after an initial good acceptance, have hardened their hearts and rejected the Son of God sent into the world to save them.

The promised Messiah has come with an authority full of meekness, with a humility and simplicity, which disarm. The prophet had foretold: Rejoice, daughter of Zion, shout for joy, daughter of Jerusalem, look, your king is coming to you, he is just and victorious, riding on a donkey, on a donkey, a young donkey. But many did not recognize him. They lacked the humility necessary to confidently admit the supernatural character of their mission. And the same thing happens at all times.

When humility is neglected, our Father warned, man seeks to appropriate God, but not in that divine way, which Christ himself made possible, by saying take and eat, for this is my body (1 Cor 11:24): but by trying to reduce divine greatness to human limits. Reason, that cold and blind reason which is not the intelligence that proceeds from faith, nor the upright intelligence of the creature capable of tasting and loving things, becomes the unreason of those who subject everything to their poor habitual experiences, which dwarf superhuman truth, which cover the heart of man with a crust insensitive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

In today’s Collect for Mass, we ask God, who through the humiliation of his Son has raised up fallen humanity, to grant us true joy, the joy of accepting every day with a more open heart, with the confidence of little children, the strong and gentle love, full of mercy that Jesus has brought us. I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to the little ones. “Our Teacher and Pedagogue calls us children to show that the little ones are better disposed for salvation; more than the wise according to the world, who, believing themselves to be wise, have become blind. Joyfully exulting, as if joining in the babbling of children, he bursts into this cry: Yes, Father, for it seemed good to you. What has been hidden from the wise and intelligent of the present world, the same has been made manifest to the little ones.”

Do we also bless the Lord because he has chosen us, when there are so many people with more qualities and virtues than we are? Do we thank him because many souls are open to the light of God through our apostolate? Does joy and gratitude reign in us for all the good that the Lord does in the Church and in the Work?

To learn of Christ, who is meek and humble of heart.

JESUS transmits to us what he has received from his Father: my Father has given me everything, and no one knows the Son but the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and whoever the Son wants to reveal him to. Christ rejoices in the little ones, who accept the revelation of the secrets of the kingdom, who love the Father’s Will and abandon themselves unconditionally to his loving Providence. He knows that without union with God, man finds no rest. Therefore he adds: come to me, all you who are weary and 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 souls.

Jesus Christ, our Lord, very often proposes to us in his preaching the example of his humility: learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart (Mt 11:29). So that you and I may know that there is no other way than the sincere knowledge of our nothingness alone that contains the power to draw divine grace to us. The Saviour practised this virtue from his birth to his death. Saint Augustine invites us to consider his example. “Behold, the physician came in his humility, found the sick man in bed, shared with him in his sickness, calling him to his divinity (…). Imitate, if you can, his humility. When, in what way did he humble himself? He, being God, became man; you, man, recognize that you are man. Would that you would recognize yourself as what he did for you! Know yourself through him; realize that you are a man, and yet your courage is so great that through you God became man. Do not attribute it to your pride, but to his mercy.”

Come to me, the Lord repeats to us today. Drawing near to Jesus Christ, we learn to be meek and humble, we renounce judging others, we seek to serve them, we are filled with the gaudium cum pace proper to those who allow themselves to be modeled by the Paraclete. We then feel the need to sing with the Psalmist: I will exalt you, my God, my King, I will bless your name forever without end (…). May all your works give you grace, Lord, and your faithful bless you; may they proclaim the glory of your kingdom and proclaim your power. All good comes from God. At times it may seem that evil predominates. But being closer to Jesus we can look at the world with simpler eyes and more accurate judgments; we are illuminated with divine lights and we are filled with wonder at the silent action of God in so many souls.

Thank you, Lord,” says our Father, “for you are, Deus, fortitudo mea (Ps 42:2), for you have always been you, and you alone, my God, my strength, my refuge, my support.

If you really want to progress in the interior life, be humble. Go constantly, confidently, to the help of the Lord and of his blessed Mother, who is also your Mother. Serenely, calmly, no matter how much the wound that has not yet healed from your last slip hurts, embrace the cross again and say: Lord, with your help, I will fight not to stop, I will respond faithfully to your invitations, without fear of steep slopes, nor of the apparent monotony of habitual work, nor of the thistles and pebbles of the road. I know that your mercy assists me, and that in the end I will find eternal happiness, joy and love for infinite ages.

The only heavy yoke is that of self-love, of pride.

THOSE who know themselves to be small before God accept the loving demands of God, always full of mercy. Identified with Jesus by the work of the Holy Spirit, they are filled with peace. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

The law of Moses was considered by many teachers in Israel as a yoke of love, but it had become heavy for those who strove to fulfill even the smallest precept with their own strength. Jesus also speaks of yoke and burden, but it is a bearable yoke, a burden that is not heavy, because we have the assistance of the Holy Spirit, that is, of the Love of God in us.

In the chapter of the Epistle to the Romans dedicated to divine sonship, St. Paul speaks to us precisely of this help of the Paraclete, which enables us to take up the yoke of Christ with joy. You do not live according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit, if the Spirit of God dwells in you. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Him. If the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the same One who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who dwells in you. Thanks to the action of the Comforter, Christ’s yoke is soft, His burden is light. There may be weariness and contradictions, but it is Christ’s fatigue that He Himself takes care to alleviate. Isn’t it true that as soon as you stop being afraid of the Cross, of what people call the Cross, when you put your will into accepting the Divine Will, you are happy, and all worries, physical or moral sufferings go away?

The Cross of Jesus is truly gentle and lovable. Sorrows do not count there; only the joy of knowing that they are co-redeemers with Him.

It also happened to St. Paul, as St. Josemaría pointed out. Those who did not like him said that he was small in body, with a clumsy tongue, with crooked eyes … and he felt great! (… ). With those invisible wounds, he felt himself alter Christus, ipse Christus. Yes, Paul, great Paul! Thank you for this doctrine that you have left us, because the Holy Spirit inspired it with you! You are Christ! Paul, rejoice that we Christians love you, that we thank you for this treasure of doctrine!

You hear within yourself, “How heavy is that yoke which you freely took!” … It is the voice of the devil; the burden … of your pride.

Ask the Lord for humility, and you too will understand those words of Jesus: iugum enim meum suave est, et onus meum leve (Mt 11:30), which I like to translate freely as follows: my yoke is freedom, my yoke is love, my yoke is unity, my yoke is life, my yoke is efficiency.

Imaginary crosses, the burdens of relying only on our own strength, thoughts that revolve around one’s own self, critical judgments are tiring. It makes us rest to abandon ourselves to God, to rejoice in what the Holy Spirit accomplishes, to contemplate the fruitfulness of Jesus in the Eucharist and in Confession, to act of contrition, to forgive at once real or imaginary offenses.

Like her Son Jesus, the Virgin Mary also prayed her prayer of praise to the Father aloud before her cousin Elizabeth. My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; for she has set her eyes on the humility of her handmaid. Our Lady had full trust in her Father God and, with the power of the Holy Spirit, she knew how to lead a life of hidden and silent sacrifice. Her joyful example and powerful intercession make it easier for us to take up with meekness and humility that yoke of Christ, which is love, freedom, life, fruitfulness.