Study:  When have you experienced tenderness in your life?  How did it affect you?

Pray:  Is there someone you know who is in pain right now?  Pray for the gentleness of Jesus to touch them.

Serve:  Is there someone you can help?  Perhaps you are uniquely suited to ease their burden and bring them comfort.

Mass Readings – 14th Sunday of the Year

Here’s a quick recap of the readings:

• 1st Reading – Zechariah offers a prophecy about Jesus
• Psalm – “I will praise your name for ever, my king and my God.”
• 2nd Reading – Paul teaches that the Spirit of Christ dwells in us
• Gospel – Christ offers rest to all who labor and are burdened

When you think of all the ways that God could choose to be revealed to humanity, perhaps nothing seems at first more shocking than the tender humility that the Messiah reveals.  God does not overwhelm our senses with awesome power; rather, God gets under our radar and lovingly touches our hearts without force or pretense.

Jesus Christ comes into our world:

• Meek and riding a donkey (not a stallion at the head of an angelic army)
• Bringing comfort and healing (as opposed to a war cry and battle plan)
• Offering his Spirit so that we might be transformed into newness of life

No wonder the Psalmist could offer praises to God!  The Lord is approachable, gentle, accessible and understanding.  Jesus Christ meets us in our most wounded and vulnerable places, for through his Cross he has experienced the full range of human pain…and redeemed it.

So come to the Lord.  Embrace the one who meets us where we are and longs to heal our pain.  May we let go of our worries and fears; may we let the Lord take us by the hand and lead us into newness of life.

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