Reflections: 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

Zech. 9:9-10; Rom. 8:9, 11-13; Mt. 11: 25-30

In our Gospel passage today Jesus speaks to God the Father in second person as a Son speaks to his Father. He praises God that he has revealed the mystery of salvation not to those who considered themselves learned about God’s Law i.e., to the Scribes and Pharisees, but to little ones, to the meek and the humble. This is his message for us this Sunday. In the 1^st reading we are shown that, on Palm Sunday, Jesus the Savior will enter Jerusalem meek and riding on an ass. He will not come riding on a horse or a chariot like the conquering generals because he will banish the warrior’s bow and he shall proclaim peace to the nations. That is why the followers of Christ must also be meek and humble like the Savior, the pride and arrogance of the world are not for them because you are not of the flesh, but you are in the Spirit because the Spirit of God dwells in you. The Father who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies, through the Spirit that dwells in you. Through this Spirit we put to death the deeds of the body and we do not live according to the flesh. By being like Jesus meek and humble and by being obedient to the Spirit of God, we live as sons and daughters of our heavenly Father.

All because Jesus makes us sharers in his own Sonship. So we see in this part of today’s Gospel Jesus addressing God “my Father”. As Son all things have been handed over to him; he is the true heir and he shares with us this being heirs of heaven. But Jesus tells us more of his relationship with the Father, that is the mutual knowledge of Son and Father. Being consubstantial with the Father the Father knows him through and through as he also knows the Father through and through. But again, Jesus tells us that we share in this knowledge because he reveals the Father to us: anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him. Two things Jesus shares with us: being heirs of heaven and the revelation about God, that he is Father to us and that he wills our salvation in and through Jesus. And yet the revelation shared with men, even with the prophets, is nothing compared to what the Son knows of the Father, all because he only is the Son. Jesus knows the Father with the same fullness, extent, and depth as the Father knows the Son. Here we have an insight into the interior relationship within the Blessed Trinity. In the work of redemption the Son is the only mediator of revelation to whom is given all the powers needed for our salvation. The Holy Spirit, the love between the Father and the Son, will carry out the steps as we will see in the Annunciation and at Pentecost and onwards in the life of the Church, making of us people in the Spirit because  the Spirit of God dwells in us. With this reflection we should be able to see that our salvation is greatly involved in the very mystery of the Blessed Trinity. To God be the glory! Amen!