Just a Word Before We Go...Fourteenth Sunday O.T…Sunday, July 5, 2026…

In our Gospel this weekend, Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves.  For my yoke is easy and my burden light.”

Pope Leo , speaking today from Lampedusa, the migrant island in the Mediterranean, urges us to recognize the God-given human dignity of all people, including refugees, asking us to exercise compassion and generosity.  The pope has previously called for us to listen to the words of Jesus, seek justice, serve the poor and work to build a more humane world. 

In the intervening years between Jesus walking the earth and Pope Leo leading the Church, we have the words of the poet Emma Lazarus entitled “The New Colossus,” enshrined on the base of the Statue of Liberty, a gift from the French People, which reads:

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

From where I stand, it is easy to recognize the similarities among Jesus’ yoke, Pope Leo’s plea, and the promise of refuge, freedom and justice symbolized by the mighty woman with a torch. Jesus, the pope and the poet each are speaking to us as individuals, yes, but more importantly, as communities.  To be yoked implies being with others, pulling together, sharing the burdens.  As we celebrate America’s 250th birthday, as we should, it remains incumbent upon us to, as Pope Leo said this morning,  re-commit ourselves to the “ideals that have made America a country that values peace and prosperity, a country characterized by generosity and nobility of heart.”  Happy Birthday, America! God bless us, all!