Sunday, July 5, 2026
Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Matthew 11:25-30
Listen to the whole reading — MP3
First reading
Zechariah 9:9-10
Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King comes to you! He is righteous, and having salvation; lowly, and riding on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow will be cut off; and he will speak peace to the nations: and his dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.
Responsorial psalm
Psalms 145:1-1,7-8,9-10,12-13
I will exalt you, my God, the King. I will praise your name forever and ever. Every day I will praise you. I will extol your name forever and ever. The Lord is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and of great loving kindness. The Lord is good to all. His tender mercies are over all his works. All your works will give thanks to you, the Lord. Your saints will extol you. They will speak of the glory of your kingdom, and talk about your power; Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. Your dominion endures throughout all generations. The Lord is faithful in all his words, and loving in all his deeds. The Lord upholds all who fall, and raises up all those who are bowed down.
Second reading
Romans 8:9,11-13
But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it is so that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. But if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Gospel
Matthew 11:25-30
At that time, Jesus answered, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you hid these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for so it was well-pleasing in your sight. All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows the Son, except the Father; neither does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and he to whom the Son desires to reveal him. “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Lectio
There is a quiet pattern running through these readings, and it is the pattern of strength that refuses to dominate. Zechariah's king comes not on a war-horse but on a donkey, lowly and bringing peace, cutting off the very instruments of force. The Gospel shows us the same divine gentleness: Jesus, to whom all things have been handed over by the Father, describes Himself not as towering and severe but as "gentle and humble in heart." We so often imagine that God's power and God's tenderness are in tension, that to be exalted is to be hard. The Scriptures keep insisting on the opposite. The Lord who is "gracious and merciful, slow to anger" is precisely the one whose kingdom endures forever. His authority is shaped like mercy.
And so the invitation comes: "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened." Notice that Jesus does not offer the removal of every yoke — He offers His yoke, the one that is easy because it is carried with Him. Paul, in Romans, names the deeper burden beneath our burdens: the exhausting attempt to live "after the flesh," to manage our lives on our own strength, by our own striving. The rest Christ promises is not idleness but a new principle of life, the Spirit who dwells in us and raises up what is dying. Rest, it turns out, is something received, not achieved — and it is given most readily to those who come like infants, empty-handed, unguarded.
What is the heavy yoke you have been carrying alone this week, the one you have not yet brought to the One who calls you by name to come to Him?
Where in your life are you still relying on chariots and war-horses — control, force, proving yourself — when Christ is asking you to let strength take the lowly, gentler shape of His own heart?
Saint of the day
St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria, Priest (1502-1539)
Ora reads this aloud, every morning, free. Ora