July 17, 2025 // Thursday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Gospel: Matthew 11:28-30
Reflect on the Word //
My interior was like waves on a windy ocean. Just days prior I received difficult news. My heart was raw with a prayer experience where the Father almost wordlessly reminded me that He had provided. The memory of His all-encompassing Providence embraced me even days later.
But I wasn’t sure that I wanted Him to speak today. I was afraid He would say or do something that might upset the peace I felt was fragile. Yet my heart opened with hope at the word “rest.”
“I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
I cautiously waited there at those words, and I felt His invitation take a breath. The tension lessened. I stayed there a bit longer and repeated His deeply good word: “I will give you rest.” At a certain point the preceding words brought me to tears: “Come to Me, all of you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
Yes, Jesus. Yes, Father, it is true You give rest when life is laborious and I am fatigued by the burden. The memory of His fidelity encompassed even my body. I remembered countless just-in-time blessings, especially when I was weary. I delighted in the truth that my rest is His with-ness and presence to me, and there He is my healing and my strengthening fortress.
Sister, it can sometimes sound trite to say that God wants to be our friend, but this is the only way I can explain how deeply good and gentle He is. Pope Benedict XVI told us on several occasions not to be afraid, because Jesus will not take anything from us, that is, anything of real value. May we learn from His most meek and humble Heart how He uses all things for our greatest good if we learn to give Him everything.
Relate to the Lord // Spend time in silence today—even five minutes—and listen for the Lord’s gentle voice of love.
Maria Kim-Ngân Bùi, after twenty years in religious life, is discerning a call to found a community of consecrated religious women dedicated to Our Lady and who will pray reparation for sins against the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, pray for conversions, and work for the evangelization of those who have left the Church or feel furthest from the Church.
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