(Ex 3:13-20; Ps 105; Mt 11:28-30)<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Bertrand-Mathieu-300x225.jpg\")
Fr. Bertrand Mathieu OMI<\/p><\/div>\n
Fr. Bertrand OMI was a veteran missionary at La Loche First Nations community in northern Saskatchewan. He had been a boxer as a youth, was a barber, ran a dog team and spoke fluent Den\u00e9. He was often heard to say, \u201cThe cross is a blessing. The cross is a blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n
We all have various burdens or crosses to carry, which could be things like being misunderstood, taken for granted; being hurt in various ways; being a widow or widower; being handicapped or seriously ill; being underemployed or unemployed; being hassled or rejected in some way. The important question is how well are we carrying them. Do we see them as a blessing?<\/p>\n
The words of Jesus in today\u2019s gospel are very pertinent: \u201cTake up my cross and follow me, but remember, my yoke is easy and my burden light.\u201d These words should help us see the cross as a blessing.<\/p>\n
In the first reading, God reveals who God is to Moses as the great I Am or Ego Eimi<\/em>. God is being itself \u2013 is-ness pure and simple. God is a God of compassion, who feels the suffering of the Israelites, and sends Moses to be an instrument of their liberation. At the same time, God reminds Moses of the covenant relationship God has with God\u2019s people, and that God will be with Moses throughout his venture in Egypt. The psalm reinforces that promise with the words, \u201cThe Lord remembers his covenant forever.\u201d<\/p>\n In the Gospel, we see Jesus who is the definitive revelation of God, who uses the same words, Ego Eimi<\/em>, that God used to Moses, to refer to himself \u2013 I am the Good Shepherd, I am the Light of the world, I am the Bread of Life, etc. So now it is Jesus who will be with us and who will help us carry our crosses.<\/p>\n Cree Lake church<\/p><\/div>\n The meaning of \u201cmy yoke is easy\u201d came home to me when Fr. Jim Fiori OMI and I flew into the Den\u00e9 First Nations community of Cree Lake one summer with some firefighters for a pastoral visit. We stayed in a log cottage built by a Norwegian trapper for the legendary Fr. Louis Moreau OMI. The tiny cottage and a beautiful log church were situated high on a point overlooking the lake. It was a long way down to the dock to get water with two pails. I spilled a lot of the water on the way back up. That night, we discovered a hand-carved neck yoke behind the door. The next morning, I used the yoke to get water and found I could literally almost jog up the hill without spilling a drop. That yoke represents the grace and freedom Jesus gives us if we put our trust in him and turn to him to help us carry our burdens.<\/p>\n This is the reality of the prayer of the Anawim (the poor people who know they need God) that St. Peter learned while walking on the water. On his own power, he sank to his neck and was about to drown, but after crying out to Jesus for help, and hanging on to Jesus, Peter was able to make it back to the boat. We must be like Peter, cry out for help each day and walk with Jesus through life, allowing him to carry most of the burden.<\/p>\n Step 11 of the program of Alcoholics Anonymous expresses this spiritual reality well: Sought through prayer and meditation to improve my conscious contact with God, seeking only the knowledge of God\u2019s will for me and the power to carry it out.<\/p>\n The cross as a blessing also involved radical discipleship and redemptive suffering \u2013 the ability to accept some inconvenience and suffering without bitterness of resentment, as Jesus did. Suffering can make us bitter or better. With faith in God\u2019s promise realized in Jesus, it can make us better, more compassionate and more mature in our love.<\/p>\n A young man was at the end of his rope. Seeing no way out, he dropped to his knees in prayer. \u201cLord, I can\u2019t go on,\u201d he said. \u201cI have too heavy a cross to bear.\u201d The Lord replied, \u201cMy son, if you can\u2019t bear its weight, just place your cross inside this room. Then, open that other door and pick out any cross you wish.\u201d The man was filled with relief and said, \u201cThank you, Lord.\u201d He did as he was told. Upon opening the other door, he saw many crosses – some so large that the tops were not visible.\u00a0 He tried on a variety of crosses but none seemed right \u2013 there was something wrong with every one he tried. Then he spotted a small cross leaning against a far wall. \u201cI\u2019d like that one, Lord,\u201d he whispered. The Lord replied, \u201cMy son, that is the cross you just brought in.\u201d<\/p>\n The Eucharist is our covenant God being with us, spiritual food for the journey, like Elijah in the desert, strengthening us to face the challenges of daily life. May our celebration today strengthen our faith, help us take up our crosses and see them as a blessing<\/p>\n So as we leave \u2013 let us be prepared to take up our cross and follow Jesus, always remembering to do so with his yoke, his strength, through the prayer of the Anawim.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" HOMILY WEEK 15 04 – Year I Jesus\u2019 Cross and Yoke (Ex 3:13-20; Ps 105; Mt 11:28-30) *************************************** Fr. Bertrand OMI was a veteran missionary at La Loche First Nations community in northern Saskatchewan. He had been a boxer as a youth, was a barber, ran a dog team and spoke fluent Den\u00e9. He was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-homilies","category-ordinary-time"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2559"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2559\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2563,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2559\/revisions\/2563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Cree-Lake-church-300x192.jpg\")