Catholic Homily for July 5, 2026: The Gentle Messiah, Prayer, and Trust in God
Readings and Virtual Homily for July 5, 2026, Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time; Venezuela Update; Time Out With the Sisters; Happy Birthday, America; July Schedule
Readings for this Sunday:
Zechariah 9:9-10
Psalm 145:1-2, 8-11, 13-14
Romans 8:9, 11-13
Matthew 11:25-30
Dear Friends and Family:
A general theme of the gentleness and mercy of the Messiah might be said to run through this Sunday's readings. This theme is consistent not just with the many instances of gentleness on Jesus' part throughout the Gospels, but also with dozens of Old Testament predictions of the Messiah. Alongside the many predictions of the Messiah's conquering strength, which largely led the Jewish people to expect the Messiah to be a military leader, there are parallel predictions such as those found in today's first reading and psalm, attesting to the Messiah's tenderness, his gentle spirit.
Zechariah foresees Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, with Jesus "riding on a donkey, on a colt" (vs. 9), adding that he is humble, and that in his reign "the warrior's bow will be banished, he will proclaim peace to the nations" (vss. 9-10).
Psalm 145 attests to the compassion and gentleness of the Lord: "The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in kindness" (vs. 8), adding that the Lord is "compassionate toward all (his) works" (vs. 9); that he "supports those who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down" (vs. 13).
Jesus echoes these understandings in the Gospel passage, first praising the Father for having given insight and understanding not to those who are wise and learned by worldly standards, but to the childlike (vs. 25). He then invites "all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest" (vs. 28).
"Take my yoke upon you and learn from me," Jesus continues, "and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy and my burden light" (vss. 29-30).
One way of understanding the truth in this promise of the Lord's is to recognize that, whether we are walking with the Lord or not, burdens come our way; difficulties arise and we must one way or another deal with them. They are more easily carried when their weight is shared by another pair of shoulders. That is what Jesus is offering here. Realizing that we do not have to figure everything out on our own is liberating.
I have more than a few examples from my own life of how this dynamic plays out. When we turn to the Lord in prayer and supplication, several things are likely to start happening. One, we are likely to gain insights into the situation that we could not have arrived at on our own. Two, we can achieve the understanding that God, whom we have now called in to assist us, already sees us on the other side of the difficulty. God, being outside of time, already knows how we are going to manage, how we are going to get through. Three, a realization that, as our evangelical brothers and sisters are fond of putting it, "If God brings you to it, God will bring you through it," should encourage in us both an optimism about the situation's eventually being resolved, and a sense of peace -- "He sees me on the other side of this; I need to trust in that." Finally, all of the foregoing can encourage in us a new openness to the manner in which the situation is to be resolved. I've lost count of the situations in my life which wound up being resolved differently than I had expected. Coming through them to the other side, and looking back and seeing how grace intervened on my behalf, I have just that much more depth in terms of my discipleship; just that much more inclination to rely on God, rather than solely on my own understandings and approaches.
Well, on the subject of relying on God...Millions of Venezuelans are doing just that, this weekend, as they grapple with the horror left behind by the twin earthquakes, last week. (Incidentally, not that it really matters, but just for the sake of accuracy, the quakes hit forty seconds apart, not forty minutes, as I wrote last week.)
I mentioned that two folks within my personal orbit were still missing, two days after the quakes. A cousin of our office manager here in the parish, and the brother of my young guy in Orlando, Charlye. Both were in La Guaira, Caracas' port city, which was devastated. I learned during the course of this past week that our office manager's cousin was killed in the quakes. I learned last weekend that Charlye's brother had turned up, bruised and phoneless, but otherwise unscathed. His office building partially collapsed and in the scramble to escape, he lost his phone. It took him the better part of two days to hook up with a friend who had an operational phone, and so be able to alert the family (who live in Caracas and Maturin, not La Guaira) that he was safe.
Miracle rescues from the collapsed concrete rubble have been reported all week, of course, but now ten days after the event, the chances of finding any more survivors are vanishingly small. Tens of thousands are missing.
My young (well, young-ish) guys in Caracas and their families are dealing with the on-the-ground reality; no power in many instances, no running water. Places of employment damaged and closed for the next several days or even weeks for repairs. The family that was out on the street last week remains out of their apartment this week, but they are all inside. They have split into three groups and moved in with relatives until such time as they get the all-clear to return home.
To everyone who sent help or offered to do so, my deep thanks. As I said last week, nothing matters more right now, than prayer. But as several of you had to ask me for it, this past week, just in case anyone wants to send a check, my address is:
St. Clement Parish
750 Calhoun Street
Hayward 94544I got money to Caracas the day after the quakes. Then I went to Soquel to give the sisters' retreat. I got back yesterday (Friday) and sent a larger amount, which Charlye assured me this morning has already reached our Caraquenos. I will send more next week and no doubt, more the week after that. Recovery is likely to be a summer-long process.
The retreat at St. Clare (the Franciscan retreat center in the Santa Cruz Mountains) was rich in faith and serene in feeling. There were sisters from three different congregations there, as well as several laywomen. It was a real time-out for all of us, and I am grateful to have had it. The topic was The Messianic Prophecies, and carving up my notes on it (I have given this talk several times; the first time in Pleasanton, with my mom, way back when) to fit the twelve-talk format for the retreat, I not only had room to expand my coverage of the topic, I began to sense that this might easily become a book!
We'll see. I have no shortage of book projects going forward, this summer, this year.
Finally, as it is a special anniversary, our 250th, I think I should end wishing everyone a blessed and restful Fourth of July weekend, remembering that our freedoms have been paid for in blood, and giving thanks and praise to the Lord for the deep blessing that accrues to American citizenship. May we guard our liberties zealously; once lost, they would be hard to re-win.
Take good care. God bless. Happy Fourth!
Fr. Brawn
Mass Schedule for July:
Sunday, July 5
8 AM, 1115 AM (both English)
Saturday, July 11
5 PM (English)
Sunday, July 12
THE CATHOLIC COMMUNITY OF PLEASANTON, Seton Campus
11 AM (English)
630 PM (St. Clement; English)
Sunday, July 19
930 AM, 1 PM (both Spanish)
630 PM (English)
Saturday, July 25
5 PM (English)
Sunday, July 26
8 AM, 1115 AM (both English)
(THE 1115 AM MASS THIS DAY IS MY 20th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION MASS; IT WILL BE FOLLOWED BY A RECEPTION IN THE PARISH HALL)
Daily Masses (All 8 AM and English, except where noted):
Fri., the 10
Sat., the 11
Mon. thru Sat., the 13-18 -- Wednesday the 15 at 830
Mon. thru Sat., the 20-25 -- Wednesday the 22 at 830
Both Tuesday the 14 and Tuesday the 21, 7 PM (Spanish)
Mon. the 27
Tue. the 28
Thur. the 30
Fr. Jesus (pastor) is on pilgrimage most of the second half of the month, which is why I have so many daily Masses.