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In an otherwise normal year, this would be the time for sending out invitations for weddings, graduations, baptisms, first Communions, and summer soirées.
COVID has largely squashed that, or at least put such celebrations on hold.
But there is one invitation this virus cannot postpone; the invitation to follow Jesus.
“Come to me all you who are heavy burdened,” he says in the Gospel today, “and I will give you rest.”
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This isn’t a black-tie affair.
We don’t have to buy a new outfit or get gussied up. Jesus won’t judge us by our appearance or by what gift we bring from the online registry.
He invites us as we are: tired and frustrated of COVID, perhaps lonely, hungry for a purpose, and stressed about our unknown futures.
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Come to me as you are, he says, and I will give you rest. It’s the type of rest that Jesus alone can give, shalom.
Meaning peace; inner stillness; comfort; security.
It may not be the invitation we were expecting this summer, but it’s exactly what we need. It’s free and free-ing.
Why not accept?
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I accept whole heartedly. ZTYVM Fr. KEVIN.