Gospel & Reflection for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Friends, we are enjoying not just a good spell of weather, but also a summer of sport. Our GAA Championship is in full throttle, the Soccer World Cup is progressing along too, and though maybe overshadowed somewhat by the World Cup, the tennis championship of Wimbledon is also on.

A legend of tennis is Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. He is considered the best African American male tennis player of all time. He won three Grand Slam single titles – Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, and the Australian Open. His talent and career saw him achieved immense wealth, fame, and respect. However, in the late 1980’s, during heart surgery, he contracted HIV from a blood transfusion, which later developed into AIDS, from which he died in 1993. Countless fans from around the world wrote to him offering support and sympathy. One fan asked the inevitable question: “Why did God have to select you for such a bad disease?”

In response, Ashe answered: “The world over – 50 million children learn about tennis. 5 million learn to play tennis, 5000 will reach a grand slam; 50 reach Wimbledon, 4 to semi-finals, 2 to final. When I was the 1 holding the cup, I never asked God, ‘Why me?’ And so today in pain, I should not now be asking God, ‘Why me?’” It was an amazing answer. He never questioned his monumental blessings, so he was not going to question his suffering. He understood that he could not accept the world’s highest honors as a matter of course but then reject the world’s suffering as an injustice. He saw the good despite the bad.

Jesus too saw good in every situation. While often distressed and disappointed at the opposition and disbelief He constantly faced among the so called ‘intelligentsia’ of the times, the Pharisees, Scribes and Priests. But their rejection and opposition never blinded Him from seeing the many other sincere, searching, and decent people who made their way to Him in faith. He praised God for them because they were welcoming to Him, His message, and His ministry.

But sometimes in life, when things are going against us, it can be difficult not to be blinded about the good and the positives of our lives. Certain experiences can leave us feeling angry, sad, hurt, and disheartened and this can affect our ability to notice all that we should still be grateful for. The same is true of faith. We can often be quick to believe in and praise God when we feel that all is going well. It can be quite a different story in those situations that fall short of our hopes and expectations.

However, our readings this weekend remind us that God is always at work and His presence often unnoticed, especially in the most distressing experiences and in the most unpromising of situations. The prophet Zachariah in the First Reading announced the arrival of a king on a donkey! He was suggesting to the people that they could fail to notice the Messiah when he finally would come because he would come to them in a very ordinary, unpromising way. Who did notice, centuries later, the Son of God entering Jerusalem on a donkey? Who recognised him bloodied and battered on the Cross?

But, if we can step back and look carefully at what is happening in our lives, in our faith, in the Church itself around the world, we can begin to notice that in everything, the good and the bad, the successes and the failures, the Lord is there. He is present in those who care for us and journey with us through tough times; He is there in the strength and courage that we discover just when we thought we had nothing else left in us; He is there in the small but significant signs that suggest our efforts are making a difference.

Friends, God never rejects us. He does not will the sufferings, the disappoints, the worries that we sometimes go through. He does the opposite. He calls us to Himself, and in the realities of our lives He asks to be allowed share in what is happening. ‘Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.’

This is a call never to lose faith, because God is with us. He is asking us not to question our blessings or our sufferings. He with us in both. A proper translation of what He actually said is, ‘my yoke is easy and well fitting’. God fits very well into every experience of our lives and in everything, He shares His grace with us. It is what carries us. It is grace that stops us asking ‘Why me’ and instead, allows us to praise and thank Him because it is Him who helps us to carry everything that can weigh upon us.

Fr. Richard