THE LORD OF THE AFFLICTED

XIV SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Matthew 11:25-30

During Summer time, in Portugal, there are plenty of traditional feasts. Last week, in the Parish of Valadares, where the seminary of Good News Missionary Society is located, people celebrated the feast of the Lord of the Afflicted, which is a feast to the Crucified Christ. One may be surprised to see that the Crucified Christ is invoked as the one who brings consolation to all those who are in pain and suffer affliction. For people who suffer and who lost hope, it is consoling to know that they are not alone; in their midst, there is “a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity” (Is 53:3). It brings relief to our pain to know that the Son of God, the Messiah, shares our suffering.

Speaking of the suffering servant of the Lord, the prophet Isaiah wrote:

“Surely he has borne our infirmities

and carried our diseases;

yet we accounted him stricken,

struck down by God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions,

crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the punishment that made us whole,

and by his bruises we are healed.” (Is 53:4-5)

In this Sunday’s Gospel Jesus presents himself as the one who brings consolation and he invites us  to come to him:

“Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.” (Mt 11:28-30).

All consolation comes from Christ. He went through suffering and so he is able to understand the pain others go through. In Bemba, there is a saying: icikalipa cumfwa umwine ( what it pains, only oneself can feel). Those who never experienced suffering cannot understand the suffering of the others. 

Nowadays, in spite of so much noise, of so many ways of finding pleasure and plenty of means for subduing pain, people find it difficult to feel at peace and many live in a world without hope. Jesus invites us: Come to me! With his light, he scatters the darkness that surrounds us, gives us the courage to overcome fear and fills us with hope to go on walking on the path of life.

In the first reading, the prophet Zechariah invites us to rejoice and to shout with gladness, because the Lord is coming with victory in his hands. He comes to bring peace, banishing the weapons of war:

“the bow of war will be banished.

He will proclaim peace for the nations.” (Zech 9:10)