Getting Ready to Pray                     

Here in the United States we are celebrating our Independence as a nation in 1776. The resulting war to secure that separation was bloody and a sad way to begin a nation’s history. Instead, we have often tried to preserve our union and our liberties and assist other areas of the world to gain or retain their identities.
 
As we prepare to celebrate this week’s liturgy, we might pray for personal freedoms from dominating forces within our souls and our bodies. We can pray as well for the sacredness of other dependencies and relationships which assist our God-given identities.

It is not easy to determine what dependencies are sacred and which ones are ill. It is not easy either to know when our in-dependencies are healthy or ill as well. We come to the Eucharist to express our healthy dependence on God’s love and receive the challenges to use freely God’s many gifts in the service of peace and justice.  

Some Thoughts 

The prophet Zechariah has been relating various words from God. The words have been boasts from God about being the One and powerful God. In the chapter from which our First Reading is taken, the prophet has been relating threats and promises against the adulterous and unfaithful kings and shepherds of God’s people. What we hear is a messianic prophecy about the One Who is to Come and what he will be doing. Riding on a donkey is not a lowly or humble affair. This person will be princely and will be the recipient of God’s favor which will be justly deserved.

For its part, the Gospel has two sections. In the first, Jesus has been speaking earlier of John the Baptist who is in prison. After speaking to John’s disciples about Jesus’ own person and mission, Jesus turns to those who consider themselves wise and learned namely the teachers and the Pharisees.
 
We hear a prayer or direct address from Jesus to his Father. It has the tone of gratitude for the mysterious ways God has been revealing true wisdom to these simple yet open hearts. They have not relied on logic, signs, or execution of laws to gain freedom of soul. They have been experiencing Jesus and his ways and the call to the ways of the Kingdom.

The second section is a heart-felt direct address to the followers of Jesus to keep learning his ways. The “yoke” which is the heaviness of the Law and especially the interpretations of the Pharisees, is being replaced by the gentleness and personal relationship offered by Jesus.
 
This “yoke” of Jesus is personal as well as cultic or institutional. He was calling them and us to community (church) because love labors to us together. He calls to our need to be at peace and to let go of our inner-personal war-makings. He is telling us to be as gentle with our personal struggling selves as he himself is with us. He implies that if we learn of his gentleness and buy into that way of relating, then we will be more likely to call off the dogs, drop our defenses and regain our unity as members of His kingdom. 

Taste and see the goodness of the Lord;
blessed is he who hopes in God.
Psalm 34:9