Daily Readings - Thu Jul 14 2022
Isaiah
7The path of the righteous is level; O upright One, you make the way of the righteous smooth.8Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.9My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you. When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.12LORD, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us.16LORD, they came to you in their distress; when you disciplined them, they could barely whisper a prayer.17As a woman with child and about to give birth writhes and cries out in her pain, so were we in your presence, O LORD.18We were with child, we writhed in pain, but we gave birth to wind. We have not brought salvation to the earth; we have not given birth to people of the world.19But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead.
Sermon
The readings today invite us to reflect on the journey of trust and hope in the midst of life’s challenges. In the first reading from Isaiah, we hear the voice of a people enduring hardship and yearning for God’s justice and peace. The prophet describes the upright path of the just, which is not always easy, but it is the path that aligns with God’s will. The people have suffered, cried out in anguish, and even felt as though their efforts to bring about salvation have been in vain. Yet, amidst this tribulation, there is a glimmer of hope: the promise that God will bring life out of death, and that His people will rise again. The passage reminds us that our struggles are not without purpose, and that God’s plan is always at work, even when we cannot see it clearly.
In the Gospel, Jesus offers a comforting invitation to all who are weary and burdened. He calls us to come to Him, to take on His yoke, and to learn from His meekness and humility. Jesus promises rest for our souls, not because the journey will become easy, but because His yoke is sweet and His burden is light. This is not a promise to remove our struggles, but rather to transform the way we carry them. By trusting in Jesus and following His example, we can find peace in the midst of life’s storms.
These readings are deeply connected. Both Isaiah and Jesus remind us that faith is not about avoiding difficulties but about trusting God in the midst of them. When we feel overwhelmed, we are called to turn to God, to lean on His wisdom, and to embrace the humility that allows us to see His plan unfolding. In our daily lives, this means surrendering our need to control everything and instead learning to walk in trust, even when the path is uncertain. Let us remember that our struggles are not in vain, and that God’s peace is always within reach when we yoke ourselves to Him. May we, like the people in Isaiah, hold fast to hope, and may we, like the disciples, find rest in Jesus.