Commentary on the Gospel of

Cindy Costanzo - Creighton University's College of Nursing

I come to this day in midsummer with many different feelings. Excited at an impending holiday in which we celebrate our nation's beginning. The celebration took place at my daughter’s house in Kansas where everyone traveled from Nebraska and Indiana to be together. Family togetherness is always so precious.  This time will be especially precious with two new grandbabies who in today’s reading reminds me what it is like to be ‘childlike.’ To enjoy the simple and to be present. I also come to this day with a bit of weariness and the need for rejuvenation. Today’s passage was welcomed as a reminder to hand over my weariness and my burdens to Jesus.  

Matthew 11:25  
At that time Jesus said in reply, “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike.

Vulnerable, open, humbled revealing our true childlike selves…these words come to mind as I read this verse.  The message for me is a reminder for me during my daily time with God to come humbly with an open, authentic heart and express my gratitude, my thankfulness and lay down my burdens. Let God’s love seep into my soul and heal what needs to be healed. Keep my false self at bay and recognize how the false self can shadow God’s messages to me.  

Matthew 11:26   
Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. 

God has the sovereignty and Christ can and does execute the divine.  I pray to deepen my understanding of this and to trust in it completely.  

Matthew 11:27  
All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.

Our intellectual self always gets in the way of what is in our hearts. In any situation, I pray to be attentive to what is in my heart. To be aware of what is stirring in my soul. To answer the question, is this ‘stirring’ moving me toward God or away from God?  I seek understanding and ask that it be revealed to me if it is to be. 

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