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 Thursday of 15^th Week, Year II: Reflection

Theme: Burdens become lighter when we share them with God

Reading: Mt 11:28-30

Dear friends in Christ, today's gospel reading is one of the shortest gospel readings for Masses in the Church's lectionary; nonetheless, it is a gospel reading that is rich with promises from Jesus' mouth, promises that speak to the situations in which God's people find themselves. In this gospel passage, Jesus speaks to all of us who have been burdened by the troubles and cares of this world, inviting us to come to Him for succor and rest.

Jesus does not promise to solve all of our problems, nor does He guarantee his followers a trouble-free life. But then He provides the grace needed to be victorious over problems as they come.

Those who stood and witnessed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego being thrown into the burning furnace expected their God to demonstrate His power by extinguishing the flames of the furnace. But when God came down, He did not extinguish the fire; instead, He stood with them in the centre of the extra-heated furnace, keeping them alive in it by stopping the flames of fire from consuming them.

God's presence in and around us does not promise us a problem-free life, but it does provide us with the grace to deal with issues as they arise, because problems will not stop coming to us as long as we live in a world where people use political and financial problems as weapons to reach their ends.  

Therefore, don’t carry your heavy emotional, health, financial, marital, social or academic problems alone; instead, go to Christ today and share them with Him. In fact, hand them over to Christ, and you will see how light they will become; He will ensure that you emerge victorious over them all.

May Christ give you the grace to emerge victories over the challenges of this Thursday. Amen

Fr Isaac Chima