FOURTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR - A

14TH SUNDAY – YEAR A: (Zach 9:9-10; Rom 9:9,11-13; Math 11:25-30)
Theme: Let us prefer and choose the littleness, meekness and humility and we shall be full of peace and rest

Reflection:
- After entering into the Ordinary Time of the Liturgical Year with the invocation of the Name of the Trinity (Trinity Sunday) and with the Spiritual Nutrition (The Holy Body and Blood of Christ), now the Church offers us the Path that every Christian has to CHOOSE.
- The Way that Christ shows is quite contrary to that of the world; He does not just say and show the way by words but by his own life; from the very moment of his earthly existence, from that of incarnation, He has taken the path of humility, meekness and littleness. With the humility He has taken the human form, with the littleness He has taken the form of a servant (Incarnation), with the meekness He has entered into Jerusalem (the Passion and Death). In this way, His whole life of Jesus has become the Way, the Truth and the Life for the world and humanity to enter into the life of glory and joy.
- The Christians are called to lead a life but in the way that Christ himself paved and showed and that’s what the Church indicates us today.

First Reading: dominion of peace
- The Prophecy of Zachariah:
o The Savior of Israel who is to come is not like any other king of the their time, but a king who is the announcer and the constructor of the peace;
o He comes not on the horse as the victorious king of the world having the sword in his hands, but comes on the donkey with the humility of the servant and with the weapon of peace;
o In this way, there will be the domain not of the war and bloodshed, but of the peace and fraternity;
o This domain of peace is not confined to the particular country or region or race or culture but it would spread out to the ends of the earth;
- The deeds of the Savior of Israel (v.10), therefore, are:
o He will break down all the chariots: chariots which are symbols of power and authority;
o He will throw off the war horses: horses which stand for the readiness for fight and war;
o He will cut off the battle bow: bow that stand for the bloodshed and death;
o He will command/order (not just say) the peace to all the nations: command stands for his authority as the maker and bringer of the peace;
- The result of his coming will be the joy of his people and shouting aloud of his kingdom (v.9).
- The spiritual message of his coming is:
o To be at peace without giving any chance to quarrels, misunderstandings, pride and thus for division; thus to be the bearers of the togetherness and harmony;
o To be as servants with the virtues of meekness and humility which in turn are not a symbol of weakness but ‘sharing’ in the life of the Savior who has made himself small and meek, choosing the symbol of donkey;
o To be the destroyers of the weapons of enmity, means of division and occasions of fight and war; in this way, we have to fight always against the ‘evil/malice powers’ which try to hold us in its hands;

Second Reading: dominion of the Spirit
- Life in the flesh:
o The eighth chapter of the letter to the Romans is a letter which is elevated theologically; in today’s passage we note, the operation/action/function of the divine principle that is infused into us from the moment of our baptism; now this divine principle is always work against the anti-salvific force of the ‘flesh’ and that is, of sin.
o Paul often speaks of this ‘anti-spiritual force’ of the flesh:
 He talks about the desires of the flesh to which man can very easily become slave and to which man is always called to be vigilant and combating it with faith and works of the ‘day’.
 He talks about the ‘thorn in the flesh’, which is, the pain in the option-making for the works and weakness of the body/flesh;
 Though, this fleshy nature in the integrity of human person is always at operation, he can realize and enjoy in his spiritual strength he gains with the faith in the Spirit of Jesus Christ; for this reason, he says that ‘when I am weak then I am strong’; what he means is this: when I am weak in the flesh, in the weakness, I do not cling on it completely and absolutely because it’s not my destiny; it only helps me to know what I am now and today and to reach with carefulness and with little more firm faith to the afterward and to tomorrow; this gives me hope to look for the force of the Spirit which is already infused in me with the embrace of faith and which makes me strong to walk ahead in spite of the desires of the flesh; from this very common situation of fleshy power we can hope for the ‘power’ of the Spirit because we are called to be with and in the Spirit;
- Life in the Spirit:
o Though we have amidst us the thorns of desires in the flesh, we are given the Spirit of Christ and therefore, we are no more the slaves of flesh but we are under the dominion of the Spirit;
o This Spirit who has raised Jesus from the death, therefore, led him to the resurrection, now gives us also the life leading us out from the deeds and deathly operations of the flesh, “if you live according to the flesh, you will die” (v.13).
o We are in the Spirit because of the Spirit that dwells in us; the Spirit has a residence; the Spirit has a dwelling place; the Spirit has a place to live in: ‘that is we’: the Spirit lives in us; that why, somewhere else, Paul says that “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy and you are that temple” (1Cor 3:16-17).
o As long as this Spirit lives in us we have the ‘desire of the spirit’ that dominate us; we have the power of the spirit that fills us and strengthens us; and thus we have life in us and we can see the operations of the spirit that make us live amidst the ceaseless evil powers: “if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (v.13).
- Life of Christ in us:
o Christ has won over the deeds and desires of the flesh and he has put an end to these unfathomable conditions of the flesh by nailing to the cross and by dying in the flesh, offering his spirit to his Father; Therefore, the life in the flesh, has a permanent death/ eternal condemnation in the bodily death of Christ on the cross; therefore, we have a savior who supports us to fight against the desires of the flesh or life in the flesh;
o With the mystery of Christ, which includes merits of his incarnation, passion and resurrection, we have life in the Spirit because he has poured out his spirit upon us; the whole of being human has become integral with the divine element that is infused into us by Christ: the Holy Spirit; As long as we allow this Spirit to dwell in us and to act in us we live and we have life in fullness: that is life in the Spirit;
o Once we give up the ‘life in the flesh’ with the contemplation of the cross and death of Christ, and once we take up the ‘life of the spirit’ with the joyful living of the hope of resurrection of Christ, we live for Christ: We have Life in Christ. We live for Christ and with Christ: “All those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit” (Gal 5:24-25).

Gospel: dominion of humility and meekness
- Three stanzas of the hymn:
o Praise-benediction-thanksgiving (v. 25): the mystery of the Kingdom of God, that is, the salvific project of God in the person of Christ, is revealed to the humble and the poor just because the person of Jesus himself is humble and poor;
o Revelation of intimacy between Father and the Son (v.26-27): the total and reciprocal knowledge that exists and that runs internally between the Father and the Son; Moses was hoping to see the face of God with his eyes but the response of God was immediate: “you cannot see my face because no man can see mi and stay alive” (Ex 33:20); the person of Jesus says that the total intimacy with the Father is an intimacy revealed to him who believes in Him.
o An appeal and an invitation for all (v.28-30): it is the call of Jesus to the weak and the poor because they offer themselves to follow Jesus who is the true and definitive wisdom. The image of ‘yoke’ is used to indicate the law that the Lord has imposed on Israel; Jesus proposes it again, but with the sense little more ‘sweet’, the yoke of love, instead of yoke of law. The rapport with God is no more connected with the fear and death but with the filial affection and response.
- The exegesis of the words and the passage:
o This joyful hymn is one of the few prayers of Jesus which are written in the New Testament (we can see: John 11:41-42; 17:1-26; the words of Jesus in the Gethsemane and on the cross in the different Gospels). Here we penetrate into the central action of thanksgiving of Jesus; here the relation of Jesus to the Father on the one side and his relation to the little ones on the other, are very closely connected; it is penned down by Mathew immediately after the ‘lament’ of Jesus over the city of Galilee and it is on the contrary to it that Jesus makes this ‘act of thanks’. It signifies that: if some reject and thus go away from the way/word of the Lord, others accept and embrace and thus make Jesus rejoice;
o At that time (25): this formula is proper to Mathew (we can find it here; and 12:1; 14:1) and this serves as a starting point for many readings of the Gospel in the Liturgy. Though it looks very simple word on the outside appearance, its’ original Greek word indicates ‘the important and privileged moment’ (16:3; 24:45; 26:18). Here this mode of addressing underlines the importance of the moment in which Jesus turns to the Father and expresses some of the essential aspects of his mission. Another word in the same verse is: I thank you: literally ‘I confess you’; ‘I praise you’; ‘I proclaim you’. This is the solemn term that is used to affirm the glory of the Lord (Phil 2:11; Rom 14:11; 15:9); The word ‘Father’ appears five times in three verses; when Jesus keeps himself in front of God, everything is focalized on his filial relation to him. ‘Heaven and Earth’: the prayer that Jesus makes, first of all, is of the universal dominion of God; the Risen Christ will participate in that dominion (28:18). The last word of the verse is: ‘infants’: the paradox of God of the Bible is in the fact that his omnipotence is presented to the humble and small (Ps 113:5-7). The Bible usually calls them ‘the poor’ (5:3). They are closer to Christ, little more intellectuals, capable of understanding him because he is similar to them, as a humble and poor. Jesus gives thanks for this choosing of God which correspond his preferences and his mission completely.
o It pleased you (26): this Greek word ‘eudokia’, used also in Lk 2:14 and in Eph 1:5, is the world of Fatherly Goodness of God, which is the centre of his design of love.
o Knowing (27): The intimate relation between the Father and the Son and the affirmation that the Son is the only way towards the Father.
o Weary and who carry heavy burdens (28): it is not because of the heaviness of work but of the laws and rules that the Pharisees impose on the people (23:4). ‘I will give you rest’: the letter to the Hebrews (3:11; 4:1-5) develops the idea of ‘rest’ offered by God to his: it comes at the entrance into the Promised Land (Ps 95:11) and the rest of God the Creator (Gen 2:2). Therefore, it is derived from the great peace that God prepared for men in spite of all the difficulties on their way; not a rest which is superficial and passing;
o Yoke (29): At times, the word used to remind the Jewish law and the burden of its prescriptions (Acts 15:10; Gal 5:1). Even Jesus imposes a ‘yoke’ on his, but none other than the heaviness of the requirements of love; it is given to his listeners and followers by Jesus so that they carry on these requirements (Mt 28:20; 1Jn 5:3-4). ‘Gentle and humble in heart’: these two adjectives, gentle and humble, remind of ‘the poor’ of the Old Testament (5:3). In front of the masters, the Pharisees, who ‘say and not do’ (23:3), Jesus is the Master who gives an example and walks till the end with those who have followed him (28:20). He is a good shepherd who ‘makes them to rest’, who ‘refreshes’ them, who ‘guides’ them and who ‘gives the security’ (Ps 23:2-4).
- The dominion of the littleness-meekness-humbleness:
o Failure of the ‘selfish wisdom’ and ‘selfish intelligence’:
 Wisdom is the gift of the Holy Spirit: In fact, it is the first gift of the Spirit; there is natural wisdom and supernatural wisdom. Those who have knowledge they can know many things and they understand various events and they are naturally wise; there are also those who have spiritual wisdom who can comprehend the events and words with the process of speculation and theology and even more with the gift of the intuition that comes from God and they are supernaturally wise;
 Intelligence is also the gift of the Holy Spirit: In fact, it is the second gift of the Spirit; it is the capacity to ‘penetrate’ or to ‘read profoundly’ of the things, collecting the truth that is hidden. There is also the possibility of ‘understanding internally’ the divine mysteries if god reveals them;
 But Jesus speaks of the things ‘hidden’ from the wise and intelligent; if wisdom and intelligent are the gift of the Spirit why God hides from them these things? Jesus speaks of the Pharisees who, indeed, had the gift of wisdom to understand the truth of God but they did not heed to it because of they have believed in their own capacity excluding the need of the divine revelation; they, indeed, had the gift of intelligence to ‘penetrate themselves into the mystery of God’s revelation’; but they believed too much in their own capability to know them and to understand them and finally they failed to understand; because of this ‘auto-sufficiency’ and ‘auto-capacity’ which the Pharisees manifest through their words and actions (because they say and do not do), God has hidden these things from them.
o Victory of the ‘gentleness and meekness:
 Finally, God has chosen these ‘small and poor’ people to reveal his hidden wisdom and intelligence and the mysteries of his salvation.
 The ‘little ones’ of whom Jesus speaks, are not the children, nor the new born nor the less intelligent; they have not age difference; they are just ‘the humble ones’ because they are ones who can offer themselves to God with the total trust and complete commitment;
 The only mediator of this revelation of God’s mysteries to these little and poor ones is Jesus himself. He is and can be the Only One because He has made ‘meek’ and ‘humble’ to reach these people and to carry them into the loving bosom of the Father because these poor and little ones accept him and embrace him as their Master, who says and who does, unlike their masters of the time, Pharisees.
o Passage from the Oppression to the Rest:
 Jesus talks about the oppressed when talks about the Father which apparently seems be not connected;
 Jesus here underlines that the real oppression is ‘not the heaviness of the law’ but ‘the ignorance of God’; the knowledge of God will be the ‘repose’ and ‘rest’; and when one knows God and follows him he will be at peace.
o ‘the yoke and taking up of it:
 Jesus invites his listeners to take up the yoke, but, ‘my yoke’ : “take my yoke upon you…..for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light”;
 There is no other yoke than ‘taking the fatigue of faith’; there is no other yoke than ‘leaving one’s own self and taking up his cross’; there is no other yoke than ‘renouncing the proper securities of earthly knowledge, which are always uncertain and limited, and to be open to the divine revelation; these seems to be mysterious and difficult but at the end they are ‘easy and light’.

Conclusion:
- In spite of worldly progress of the knowledge and science which create so much of ‘curiosity and attraction’ in man, Jesus, today, invites us, his believers and followers, to be open ‘with all the mind, with all the heart, with all the strength’ to the mysteries he reveals through his word proclaimed and lived ‘in and through his people’ the Church;
- We are called to be ‘little, small, meek and humble’ in contrast to the ‘great, arrogant and proud’ and the difference will be manifested ‘in the listening, in the accepting and in the embracing’ of the yoke ‘the love’ of Jesus;
- Let us prefer and choose the littleness, meekness and humility and we shall be full of peace and rest.