Marshal Mawlong csc –
Readings: Is 6: 1-8; Mt 10: 24-33
Today’s readings inspire me to fully surrender myself to God. Given my surroundings and upbringing, I often feel burdened by heavy responsibilities. I recognize the challenge of loving others and living up to my potential. The readings remind me that it is with God I am a hero, and without him, I am a zero. St. Therese of Lisieux said, “The good God does not need years to accomplish His work of love in a soul; one ray from His Heart can, in an instant, make his flower bloom for eternity.”
In the first reading, prophet Isaiah prays to God for help against the enemy nations, acknowledging Israel’s unfaithfulness. He compares the nation’s suffering to a woman in labour, yet there is no birth, symbolizing no victory for the Israelites.
In the gospel, Jesus invites his disciples to come to him with their heavy burdens and find rest. He teaches them, as St. Augustine wrote, “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You, O Lord.” Jesus invites me to come to him with all my struggles, failures, burdens of the past, and anxieties about the future. The readings motivate me to be faithful to God by surrendering myself completely so that I may find true rest in him.