HOMILY FOR WEDNESDAY OF THE 2ND WEEK IN ADVENT SEASON, YEAR B
THEME: My yoke is easy and my burden light.
BY: Fr Deotacious Chikontwe SMA
SAINT OF THE DAY Memorial of Saint Lucy, Virgin and Martyr of the Church.
READINGS OF THE DAY
Isaiah 40:25-31
Psalm 102(:1-4,8,10
Matthew 11:28-30
LITURGICAL COLOUR
RED
INTRODUCTION
Good morning my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate Wednesday of the second Week in Advent Season Year B. And today in a special we commemorate the memorial of Saint Lucy, Virgin and Martyr.
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FROM OUR FIRST READING
We tend to associate advancing years with declining energy. As we get older, we don’t always have the energy we once had, and this can a source of frustration for us. Yet, today’s first reading from Isaiah acknowledges that even ‘young men may grow tired and weary’, and that even ‘youths may stumble’. There is such a thing as a weariness of the spirit, which can affect people at any age. Some young people can seem listless, whereas some older people can be full of vitality. Isaiah declares in that reading that the Lord is the one who alone can address and deal with this kind of weariness of spirit. ‘He gives strength to the wearied, he strengthens the powerless’. The Lord does not grow tired or weary. He is the Lord of life who remains vibrant at all times.
FROM OUR GOSPEL READING
In today’s gospel reading, however, it is Jesus who calls on us to come to him, ‘Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest’. There are always those two movements in the lives of people of faith. We invite the Lord to come to us and we try to respond to the Lord’s call to come to him. The primary element in that two fold movement is the Lord’s call to us to come. He calls us to come before we call on him to come. He has loved us before we have loved him.
CONCLUSION
The call of Jesus in today’s gospel reading is a very personal call, ‘Come to me’. He doesn’t say come to my teaching or come to my followers, but, ‘come to me’. That personal call of the Lord is addressed to each one of us without exception. Jesus also makes a promise to those who respond to his call to come to him, ‘I will give you rest’. What is Jesus promising there? We sometimes think of rest as the absence of activity. However, in the bible, ‘rest’ suggests the refreshing break that travellers in a barren desert would find in some oasis they come across. In that sense, ‘rest’ is a revival or renewal of our body and spirit. ‘Rest’ in that sense is more akin to ‘strength.
May the Lord our God continue to guide us all through the Intercession of saint Lucy.
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