14th Sunday of Ordinary Time [A]
14TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME [A] Come to me, all you who labor, who are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. That’s Jesus speaking in the Gospel of St. Matthew, chapter eleven. He not only issues the invitation; he also provides the means through which we can indeed “come to him.” He does this when he institutes the sacrament of the Eucharist. Reflect for a moment on the Eucharistic ritual. Jesus makes himself present within the humble form of a Communion Wafer. He is evidently partial to the humble approach. Note the prophecy being delivered in Zechariah: the Savior is depicted riding upon the back of a mule, a beast of burden (Zech. 9:9). That’s how he enters Jerusalem when we mark the occasion of Palm Sunday (see Matt. 21; Mark 11; Luke 19; John 12). He subsequently follows the path of humility, all over again, by becoming the Bread of Life for us within the context of the Mass. For our part, we respond by processing forward so that we can receive his...